Alex Pereira says fighters who trash talk about him on camera are nice to him in person
Alex Pereira has taken the UFC by storm over the past year. The Brazilian rose through the ranks in devastating fashion before being crowned the middleweight world champion.
'Poatan' has an uncanny ability to knock his opponents unconscious with what appears to be minimal effort. Pereira has struck fear into the hearts of many UFC middleweights based on his recent knockout wins over Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya.
In a recent interview with The Schmo, 'Poatan' claimed that UFC fighters talking trash about him online are much friendlier to him in person. Without naming anyone specifically, Glover Teixeira translated Pereira's message:
"Some of them say whatever they want to say, because they think they will never see [Pereira]. But when they see him, [Pereira] doesn't even know it's that guy who says something bad to me [online] because they come to him like, 'Hey how you doing?' Pretend like everything is okay."
Watch the interview below from 2:00:
In a recent episode of Paddy Pimblett's podcast with Dana White, the UFC president said that 'Poatan' is one of the scariest fighters he has ever seen in the promotion. White described Pereira as "a stone-cold killer." Alex Pereira's stoic demeanor also gives him an unshakeable appearance, and combined with his towering figure, 'Poatan' is an intimidating sight.
Alex Pereira claims to have watched his fight with Israel Adesanya about 50 times
Alex Pereira defeated Israel Adesanya at UFC 281, knocking the long-reigning champion out with only minutes left in the final round.
The fight was tightly-contested, as both men landed powerful blows, but Adesanya won the majority of the fight in many people's eyes. However, just as with UFC 275 and UFC 278, a dramatic final round in the main event saw the UFC title change hands.
In a recent interview with Helen Yee Sports, Pereira claimed he had watched the UFC 281 main event roughly 50 times. His answer was translated from Portuguese to English by fellow training partner Glover Teixeira, who said:
"He said in his last interview, maybe 4 days ago, that he had watched the fight maybe 30 times. But that was 4 days ago, right now, maybe 50 times."
Watch the interview below from 1:35: