Alex Pereira has had a wild trip to the highest of the UFC, however he hasn’t forgotten his roots.
As a youth he dropped out of college at 12 to work in a tire restore store in Brazil and spent years of his life doing again breaking auto work and slipping into alcoholism. Kickboxing led him away from consuming and poverty — he went professional in 2013 and was a Glory champion by 2017. In 2020 he put his full efforts in direction of MMA, and by 2022 he’d gained his first UFC title.
Now he’s the UFC gentle heavyweight champion … however the dude nonetheless is aware of the way to wrangle a fast rim job.
In a brand new video shared by his Instagram tales, “Poatan” returned to Villa Nova Borracharia in Sao Paulo the place he used to work. He didn’t hesitate to step in and get his palms soiled, swapping some tires off their rims with the lower than optimum instruments at hand.
Alex Pereira’s subsequent job within the cage will probably be a light-weight heavyweight title protection in opposition to Khalil Rountree Jr. in the primary occasion of UFC 307 this October fifth in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah. It’s a little bit of an odd opponent given Rountree is ranked No. 8 at 205, and No. 2 ranked Magomed Ankalaev remains to be ready for his shot. In a latest interview on his YouTube channel, Pereira put the blame for that solely on Ankalaev.
“I’ve all the time needed to struggle in opposition to Ankalaev and I’ve made it clear,” he mentioned “However Ankalaev didn’t wish to struggle me. I don’t know the rationale, if it was the situation, if he didn’t wish to struggle.”
“He isn’t the champion, he can’t decide something,” Pereira continued. “[UFC 307] is the chance that confirmed up and he didn’t need it. He has his reasoning, I don’t know what it’s. However I got here right here to inform you I’m not petrified of anybody.”
“Everybody is aware of my historical past and the whole lot I’ve achieved, not solely in MMA, however in kickboxing as nicely. It’s apparent that I wish to struggle this man. I feel he has made issues tough, however we’ll meet finally.”
