Born on July 7, 1987, in Sao Bernardo do Campo in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Alex Pereira is the current UFC light heavyweight champion.
The 36-year-old Pereira is the first fighter in UFC history to win both the middleweight and light heavyweight championships.
Pereira dropped out of school at the age of 12 and began working as a construction worker and later at a tyre shop. While working, the young Alex got hooked on drinking and battled addiction throughout his teenage years.
“I drank a lot and I wanted to walk away from this addiction that is so bad for society,” Pereira said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “I thought to myself, ‘Man, I wanna start practising sports because sports saves people.’ But I didn’t know how to play soccer, I’ve never done anything until then, but I fought a lot when I was a kid, so I thought about combat sports.”
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In 2009, he decided to put on the kickboxing gloves and start training. Little did he know that superstardom was waiting for him. At age 24, he made his kickboxing debut at Jungle Fight 37 by defeating Clei Silva.
Then at Glory 14: Zagreb, a 26-year-old Pereira won the Glory Middleweight Contender Tournament. Three years later, at Glory 46: China, Poatan became the Glory Middleweight champion. The Brazilian became a two-division Glory champion at the age of 32, winning the interim light heavyweight championship.
Although he fought under the Jungle Fight MMA promotion thrice while being a professional kickboxer, Pereira did not take MMA seriously until 2020. He also tried his hand at professional boxing when he was 29 years old and won his only bout, knocking out Marcelo De Souza Cruz inside three rounds.
Pereira only made his UFC debut against Andreas Michailidis at UFC 268 in 2021 when he was already 34 years old. He won the fight via a spectacular knockout and won Performance of the Night honors. Three fights later, a 35-year-old Pereira defeated kickboxing rival Israel Adesanya to become the UFC middleweight champion.
Poatan was already 36 years old when he became the 205-pound champion and the 9th fighter to win two different UFC belts. That was impressive but that was not the record as it is his current trainer and good buddy Glover Teixeira who owns the distinction of being the oldest fighter to win the UFC light heavyweight championship. Teixeira was a ripe 42-year-old when he defeated Blachowicz at UFC 267 in 2021.
Still, Pereira accomplishing what he has right now is nothing short of spectacular since he was a late bloomer. Remember that he did not start to train in combat sports until he was 21 years old.