Pereira admits he may have pushed himself past healthy limits fighting three times in 175 days.
Alex Pereira says he’ll be taking a well-deserved break after an extremely difficult camp leading up to UFC 307.
Pereira overcame adversity early in his light heavyweight title defense against Khalil Rountree Jr., coming back from losing the first two rounds to batter Rountree en route to a fourth round TKO (watch the highlights here). Following the fight, “Poatan” revealed he nearly pulled out of the bout because things were going so poorly for him.
“I was in Brazil about a month ago, I had some problems with my visa,” he said. “I was going to the consulate every day, trying to see if my passport was ready. Finally, I made it back to the U.S., spent about a week in Connecticut, and have been here [in Salt Lake City] for three weeks.”
“In the meantime, I was on antibiotics — I had a fever, I had a bad throat,” Pereira continued. “When I came here, my throat was still bad. I went to the doctor and had another round of antibiotics. I even recorded a video at the time. I said in the video I would show it if I won, so we can put that out at some point. But I went through a lot.”
In addition to sickness, lingering injuries also flared back up. Pereira re-aggravated an old rib injury, and the toe he broke leading into UFC 300 became an issue again. With all those problems piling it, it seems clear the light heavyweight champion needs some time off. He defended his belt three times in just 175 days — a new UFC record.
“I think there is a limit,” he admitted. “I want to push myself as much as I can. I’m 37 and I want to take advantage of time. But I do need to take a break.”
For complete UFC 307 results, coverage, and highlights, click HERE.