Alex Pereira is 3-0 in the UFC and expected to soon fight for the middleweight title.
Alex Pereira wowed audiences in his third ever UFC appearance a few weeks ago. The Brazilian knockout artist showed, by KOing Sean Strickland at UFC 276, that he’s a force to be reckoned with in the UFC middleweight division.
Pereira’s success was ideal for the UFC, and MMA headline writers, since ‘Poatan’ has a very well known history with current 185 lb champion Israel Adesanya. Pereira has two wins over Adesanya from their time spent competing in GLORY kickboxing. One of those wins was a devastating knockout. No other fighter, in any sport, has ever KO’d Adesanya.
One person who is clearly sold on Pereira’s striking and potential is fellow top middleweight Jack Hermansson. While speaking at the UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Aspinall pre-fight presser the Swede warned his cohorts about the threat the Brazilian poses.
“He has the touch of death,” he said (ht Sportskeeda). “And usually, you know, Strickland can be a really hard, tricky person to hit but yeah, if Pereira touches you with that left hook it’s good night for about everybody.”
Hermansson fights Chris Curtis this weekend. His last fight was a split decision loss to Strickland in the main event of UFC Vegas 47.
Lately ‘The Joker’ has been swinging back and forth between the win and loss columns. Since 2019 he has beaten David Branch, Jacare Souza, Kelvin Gastelum and Edmen Shahbazyan and taken losses to Marvin Vettori and Jared Cannonier.
Hermansson is currently ranked 8th in the UFC’s middleweight rankings.
Pereira jumped one spot to 5th (tied with Paulo Costa) in the rankings thanks to his win over Strickland. The only men ahead of Pereira are Derek Brunson, Marvin Vettori, Jared Cannonier and Robert Whittaker. All those fighters have lost to Adesanya.