Alex Pereira

Alex Pereira fights at heavyweight in the UFC. He is a former light heavyweight and middleweight champion.

São Bernardo do Campo is his birthplace. He trains at Teixeira MMA & Fitness in Bethel, Connecticut, started training in 2009 to have a better quality of life and to get away from alcohol, turned pro in 2015, and worked as a tire repairman before he fought. The nickname Poatan is an indigenous name.

Glory Kickboxing made him middleweight and light heavyweight champion at the same time, and he defended the middleweight belt five times. Pereira holds a kickboxing black belt, reported a 33-7 pro kickboxing record with 21 knockouts and an amateur kickboxing record of 25-3, and he holds kickboxing wins over Israel Adesanya twice and over Dustin Jacoby.

The UFC lists 13-4-0, with 11 knockouts, five first-round finishes, four second-round finishes, one fourth-round finish, and one fifth-round finish, and the fighter facts list the age as 38. He lost his pro debut. This page lists the bouts in the UFC history. Pereira measures a 44-inch (112 cm) leg reach, and he has won six of his last eight.

Ciryl Gane stopped Pereira with strikes at 1:27 of the second round at UFC Freedom 250 on June 14, 2026, and Pereira meets Sergei Pavlovich on December 12, 2026. Pereira stopped Magomed Ankalaev with strikes at 1:20 of the first round at UFC 320 on October 4, 2025, and won the light heavyweight title, after he lost a five-round unanimous decision to Ankalaev at UFC 313 on March 8, 2025, and lost that title. He stopped Khalil Rountree Jr. with strikes at 4:32 of the fourth round at UFC 307 on October 5, 2024, knocked out Jiří Procházka at 0:13 of the second round at UFC 303 on June 29, 2024, and knocked out Jamahal Hill at 3:14 of the first round at UFC 300 on April 13, 2024, in three defenses. Pereira stopped Procházka with strikes at 4:08 of the second round at UFC 295 on November 11, 2023, and won the vacant light heavyweight title.

Israel Adesanya knocked Pereira out at 4:21 of the second round at UFC 287 on April 8, 2023, and Pereira lost the middleweight title, after Pereira stopped Adesanya with strikes at 2:01 of the fifth round at UFC 281 on November 12, 2022, and won it. The Octagon debut was a second-round stoppage of Andreas Michailidis at 0:18 on November 6, 2021.