UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira's first victory in the Octagon came despite the worst injury of his martial arts career.
Alex Pereira's fast climb in the UFC is unprecedented. In just a handful of fighting in his MMA career, Pereira History wrote as the fastest to earn several UFC titles, including his title victory on his two-time kickboxing rival Israel Adesanya.
Pereira will return to the octagon in weeks to defend the UFC Light Heavyweight title against Magomed Ankalaev on UFC 313. Since the full-time switch to light heavyweight has been, Pereira has been 5-0 in the cage, with four of those victories that come with stopping .
Before his slight heavyweight success, Pereira got up to the UFC scene in the middleweight division and he took on Andreas Mikhailidis on UFC 268. For a long time UFC commentator JOE Rogan, an enthusiastic fan of Pereira's Kickbox career, Hypeded Pereira's debut As a must-see television.
Pereira hit Michailidis with a flying knee in round 2 and earned a bonus after the fight for his efforts. But for his UFC debut, Pereira almost withdrew from the fight because of what he called the worst injury of his career.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Alex Pereira suffered a horrible ankle injury before they have knee -linking fly
In a recent interview with Mark Bouris, Pereira explained the injury that almost crushed his UFC debut fight.
“I don't know if anyone knows this, but prior to my UFC debut I had a bad injury on my ankle/foot,” said Pereira. “I had to move forward, didn't want to spoil it and not fight … and then I won by knockout.”
Pereira has since fought with several injuries during his light heavyweight title line. Before the recent title defense against Jiří Procházka and Khalil Rountree Jr. Leed Pereira from several foot injuries that influenced his training and preparation.
But faithful to Pereira's Warrior Persona, he is willing to fight to defend his light heavyweight throne.
Alex Pereira wants to achieve a big goal after UFC 313
While Pereira is preparing for his upcoming title defense, a victory can indicate a new chase after UFC 313. Pereira wants to go to heavyweight for a super fight with Jones or Tom Aspinall, who is expected to clash later this year.
Pereira could also collaborate with Adesanya for the upcoming Vechtkamp of the latter. The two former rivals shared a viral cageside interview on UFC 312.
Pereira 'also agreed' with a confrontation with Dricus du Plessis Backstage on UFC 312. Du Plessis defeated Pereira's former opponent, Sean Strickland, earlier this month in the UFC 312 Main Event.
Pereira is a busy man prior to his upcoming UFC fight return, and while he looks back on his debut, it sounds like he was almost not to take the walk and possibly not go to his current path to success.
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