Who are the best Brazilian fighters in the UFC? Assessing Alex Pereira's position after his stunning UFC 300 victory
UFC light heavyweight king Alex Pereira successfully defended his throne at UFC 300. 'Poatan' locked horns against Jamahal Hill in the main event of the historic fight card. The Brazilian made light work of his opponent and knocked him out in the opening round of the fight.
The impressive victory and his overall UFC run can be used to argue whether Pereira is the greatest UFC fighter ever to hail from Brazil. One major reason for the argument in favor of Pereira is the list of 'Poatan's' achievements in the promotion in such a short period.
After building a 3-1 MMA record, the 36-year-old joined hands with the UFC and made his promotional debut in November 2021. In around 30 months, 'Poatan' has competed in eight UFC fights and got his hand raised in seven of them.
This run includes capturing the UFC gold in two different weight divisions - middleweight and light heavyweight. 'Poatan' is the only male fighter from Brazil to achieve this feat.
In his UFC tenure, Pereira has defeated five different UFC champions, Sean Strickland, Israel Adesanya, Jan Blachowicz, Jiri Prochazka, and Jamahal Hill. These accomplishments have made the 36-year-old one of the most prominent fighters to come from Brazil.
Apart from Alex Pereira, who are the other contenders for the title of Best Brazilian fighter in the UFC?
Brazil has a long history of producing world-class MMA fighters who go on to achieve great things in the sport. Names like Alex Pereira, Charles Oliveira, Jose Aldo, Glover Teixeira, Wanderlei Silva, Antonio Nogueira, Mauricio Rua, Vitor Belfort, Junior dos Santos, Lyoto Machida, and Glover Teixeira are well loved and respected by MMA fans.
However, there are some whose accomplishments are unparalleled in the sport. One of those names is Royce Gracie, who is considered a pioneer of MMA. Gracie's professional MMA journey started with the inaugural UFC event and the MMA legend proceeded to win UFC 1, UFC 2, and UFC 4.
Another name in contention for the best Brazilian UFC fighter is Anderson Silva. During his active days in the promotion, 'The Spider' created several records that are still unbeaten to this day. Silva had the longest title reign in the promotion's history (2457 days) and also holds the feat of longest UFC winning streak (16 wins).
Another Brazilian fighter who has massive feats to their name is Amanda Nunes. 'The Lioness' is the only female UFC fighter to attain the champ-champ status as she captured the bantamweight and featherweight titles in the promotion. She holds the record for the longest winning streak (12), most knockouts (7), most finishes (10), and most title fight victories (11) in the UFC Women's history.
So, these are the three names that would arguably have the strongest case for the title of the best Brazilian fighter in the UFC.