Alex Pereira Explains The Importance Of Making Peace With Opponents After the Fight
Once the fight is over, Alex Pereira prefers to put his rivalries to bed.
Inside the Octagon, ‘Poatan’ is one of the most intense and intimidating opponents in all of mixed martial arts. But when it’s all said and done, Pereira always prefers to make peace with his opponents.
“I avoid having conflicts with my opponents,” Pereira told MMA Junkie. “Everyone sees. After my fights, I always try… we might even train together, right? So this is a characteristic of mine. I think that by doing it this way, if you look closely, after I started doing this, many people are also doing it. So I think I’m managing to change a little bit the thinking of the athletes.”
Case in point, Pereira’s surprise relationship with former foe Sean Strickland.
Long before the Brazilian bruiser became a two-division UFC champion, Pereira went toe-to-toe with the eccentric Strickland in July 2022. Pereira quickly KO’d ‘Tarzan’ less than halfway through the first round, securing his first shot at UFC gold.
Since then, the two have regularly trained together.
Pereira will be back inside the Octagon this Saturday night, headlining UFC 320 in Las Vegas against reigning light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev — the man who unseated Pereira as the 205-pound king earlier this year.
The two recently engaged in an intense encounter at the UFC PI ahead of their highly anticipated sequel, so it’ll be interesting to see if they bury the hatchet following this weekend’s scrap in ‘Sin City.’
