Alex Pereira receives BJJ brown belt following UFC 281 win, fans react

Alex PereiraJust a few days into his UFC middleweight title reign, Alex Pereira has already earned himself another belt. As reported by MMA journalist Ariel Helwani on Twitter, Pereira received his Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt from coach Plinio Cruz just three days removed from his shocking fifth-round finish of former middleweight king Israel Adesanya at UFC […]

Alex Pereira

Just a few days into his UFC middleweight title reign, Alex Pereira has already earned himself another belt.

As reported by MMA journalist Ariel Helwani on Twitter, Pereira received his Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt from coach Plinio Cruz just three days removed from his shocking fifth-round finish of former middleweight king Israel Adesanya at UFC 281 on Saturday night.

“New UFC middleweight champ Alex Pereira was awarded his BJJ brown belt by his coach Plinio Cruz last night.”

The news was immediately met with skepticism by fans who quickly referenced Islam Makhachev’s comments to Daniel Cormier regarding the way BJJ black belts are seemingly handed out like candy on Halloween to some of MMA’s top stars.

We have to cancel many black belts [because] they make Jiu-Jitsu look bad,” said Makhachev. “Because a lot of guys have black belt but I don’t know [if they have the skills].

Love him or hate him, Alex Pereira is a bonafide belt collector. Under the GLORY Kickboxing banner, where he defeated Adesanya twice prior to their UFC 281 clash, Pereira was a two-division champion. Today, he is a UFC champion having defeated one of the most celebrated titleholders in the promotion’s history over the weekend.

The Brazilian kickboxer even commemorated his historic title win on Saturday night by getting a UFC championship belt tattooed on his arm. Pereira shared a video clip of the work being done on Instagram.

Fans React to Alex Pereira’s BJJ Brown Belt on Twitter

Following the news that Alex Pereira had received his BJJ brown belt, fans immediately reacted to the news in a mostly negative way.