Alex
Pereira is no stranger to traveling across continents to fight
on short notice.
Pereira will put his light heavyweight title on the line against
Jiri
Prochazka in the main event at UFC 303
on June 29. Both fighters stepped in on 15 days’ notice to save the
card after the originally scheduled main event between Conor
McGregor and Michael
Chandler fell through due to a McGregor injury.
It will be a quick turnaround for Pereira after a first-round
knockout win over Jamahal
Hill at UFC 300 in April. However, Pereira’s Glory kickboxing
career has prepared him for showing up to fight night under adverse
conditions.
Pereira, who has two kickboxing wins over former UFC middleweight
champ Israel
Adesanya, recalled a similar situation going into their initial
matchup. Pereira encountered numerous obstacles going into the
fight, which he went on to win via unanimous decision. As a result,
“Poatan” believes he is mentally conditioned for such circumstances
going into upcoming clash against Prochazka.
“Of course, this is not the best way but it’s not new to me,”
Pereira said on his YouTube channel. “Been through similar
situations. First fight I did with Israel, in China, no one know,
but I did two [trips] to China in 30 days. I went for interviews,
take some pictures, went back the next day, in and out of China…
But for my fight [it] was complicated. After 30 days I went back to
fight. [Cutting] weight, was the category 85 kilos in kickboxing. I
did three stops, three stops to get to the final destination. That
got me very tired, got there just in time to [cut] weight, cut the
weight, did my obligations, went to the fight and won. This isn’t
new to me. My mind is very strong for this. I decided to do this.
It’s what I want, let’s go.”
Having fought for the majority of his career at middleweight, the
cut to light heavyweight is also somewhat of a relief to Pereira.
The Brazilian believes he should be able to comfortably cut the
remaining 10 pounds he has left with some minor adjustments to his
diet.
“I’m weighing 103 kilos [227 pounds], 10 [22 pounds] kilos [to
cut]. I’m used to this,” he said. “For this category [light
heavyweight] is better for me. Have 15 days for the fight, have a
good time to adjust the diet.”
Pereira has already defended his title against Prochazka via
second-round KO in their first meeting at UFC 295 in November 2023.
“BJP” has since rebounded with a second-round TKO win over Aleksandar
Rakic at UFC 300.
