Alex Pereira’s moniker ‘Poatan’ roughly translates to ‘Stone Hand.’
Anyone who has watched Pereira fight or dared step inside the cage with him knows all too well that the Brazilian kickboxer has more than lived up to his nickname. Hell, not even his sparring partners are safe.
Recently, the reigning UFC light heavyweight world champion shared some footage on Instagram of a rather intense sparring session with Guram Mestvirishvili, a Georgian fighter who has made multiple appearances under the Ring of Combat banner.
Alex Pereira sparring
pic.twitter.com/3oJIeFymry
— UFC Türkiye
(@ufc_turkiye)
As you can see from the image below, things did not go well for Mestvirishvili.
Alex Pereira became a two-division champion in two different sports
After making a name for himself in GLORY Kickboxing, capturing both the middleweight and light heavyweight titles, ‘Poatan’ made his way to the UFC, earning wins over Andreas Michailidis, Bruno Silva, and Sean Strickland en route to his first title opportunity.
Pereira made the most of it, KO’ing longtime rival Israel Adesanya in the fifth round of their UFC 281 title tilt to take the promotion’s 185-pound crown.
Alex Pereira has since moved on to the light heavyweight division, winning the vacated strap with a second-round knockout of Jiri Prochazka in November. He’s since scored his first successful defense, dispatching ex-champion Jamahal Hill in the UFC 300 headliner on April 13.
Though no announcements have been made, Pereira appears to be prepping himself for a rematch with Prochazka. Check out their first meeting at UFC 295 below: