Alex Pereira has put pen to paper, making the transition from GLORY kickboxing to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) kingpin Israel Adesanya’s Middleweight division.
Pereira — the only man to knockout “Last Stylebender” — officially inked his UFC contract in a new video circulating on social media. In fact, Pereira was wearing a UFC shirt in the viral clip. This news comes off the heels of a failed (albeit controversial) Glory Light Heavyweight championship title defense against Artem Vakhitov at GLORY 78 earlier this month.
Pereira and Vakhitov each now hold one win via split decision over each other.
The only man to KO Israel Adesanya in UFC-boundpic.twitter.com/8Wqf8VoVk5
— Shakiel Mahjouri (@Shak_Fu) September 8, 2021
“Hello, guys. Now it’s official,” Pereira said in the video above. “UFC, thank you. I’m so happy to be part of the family.”
Pereira holds two kickboxing wins over Adesanya. He first defeated “The Last Stylebender” via unanimous decision at Glory of Heroes in April 2016. The two fought again at Glory of Heroes 7 in March 2017, scoring a left hook knockout.
Pereira (33-7 in kickboxing, 3-1 in MMA) last competed in mixed martial arts (MMA) at LFA 95 in Nov. 2020. Pereira scored a scary powerful knockout punch (watch here) in the first round that left opponent Thomas Powell immobilized on the mat for an extended period of time.
Adesanya (22-1 in MMA) reigns as the UFC Middleweight champion and has never been finished in the sport. He is coming off a successful title defense against Marvin Vettori (watch slow-motion highlights) and is expected to rematch former champion Robert Whittaker later this year.
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