Alex Pereira dismisses criticism of his travel arrangements ahead of UFC 313: “Done this a million times”
Alex Pereira's recent trip to Australia and Asia in the weeks leading up to UFC 313 PPV challenge vs. Magomed Ankalaev has raised concerns.
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Alex Pereira hits back at critics over his trip to UFC 312 before Magomed Ankalaev fight (Source: IMAGO/X)
Alex Pereira has had a unique 2024 with immense success. But with his defense against Magomed Ankalaev coming up next, he could be in a deep jam. It marks Pereira’s consensus stiffest test at 205-pound limits. Hence, many think his traveling before the UFC 313 PPV title slot is unwise.
“Poatan” meets Magomed Ankalaev next at UFC 313 PPV in the March 8 headliner at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. With both their skill ceilings high, the duo was split at -110 opening props. Daniel Cormier advised against his tour to Australia amid such a challenge. The Brazilian cornered Sean Strickland for his UFC 312 PPV title rematch at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. Now, Pereira hits back at the critique of the UFC 312 trip:
Sean and I have a good friendship now and a lot of people are thinking that I just went out there to be in his corner, …But I had these prior commitments in Australia and it just ended up that it worked out for me to be over there…I can say to Daniel Cormier and a bunch of the other specialists saying that I shouldn’t have gone out there that I’ve been in this situation before. It’s actually been worse before when I was in Australia and had signed up to fight but didn’t even know I was going to do that.
Alex Pereira in a BloodyElbow Exclusive interview as part of Stake.com (@Stake) ambassador
Pereira trains with coach and former HW fighter/translator Plinio Cruz and is in the habit of extensive volume sparring. Meanwhile, ‘DC’ presented he should be bringing Glover Teixeira more and investing in grappling hours for the Ankalaev challenge. The UFC 205-pound champ later revealed that Teixeira (Camp Teixeira MMA & Fitness) did join him there. Subsequently, he is training in ground game.
The Brazilian fighter is also investing in his traveling block and social circle now that he is a proper global sensation. While at and after The Pit (mixed martial arts) in Arroyo Grande, California, and back on Teixeira MMA & Fitness mats, he trained with friend and MMA content creator Nina-Marie Daniele again as part of her pre-fight vlog. Before this, he uploaded two-part sparring stints with Korean HW fighters. Pereira also laid into the real reason for cornering Tarzan.
Alex Pereira hits back at Daniel Cormier, reveals why he cornered friend Sean Strickland
Alex Pereira, much like Xtreme Couture’s Strickland, is a big believer in mass sparring and training. Pereira says he’s used to street training. Unlike some turning up for their two or three days at camp prep, he certainly seems to live for it.
Ankalaev secured the deep spot as the top seed for the 205-pound undisputed strap at last by defeating Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 308 PPV in October. 11-1-1 in UFC, he has not lost all 13 bouts since his debut. The fighter poses his unique challenges, unlike Pereira’s triple KO defenses as of yet. Most have thus said that a jetlag and altitude adjustment is not wise right now. Traveling skits of 20,000 miles to and from Down Under might not favor him.
However, Pereira is confident the UFC 313 PPV event headliner against Magomed Ankalaev set for March 8 will go his way. Now, he lays out why cornering Strickland transcends just normal kinship:
I heard people saying ‘oh he doesn’t even speak English, what difference does it make him being there?’ But we have the same kind of energy, we’re on the same vibe, both fighting in the same company so there’s a lot of good rapport between us…This time it was all very planned out, I knew what I was going to do. I took basically my whole team down there, I had eight people in Australia…I feel like I’m very experienced with that and I’ve done this a million times to be honest.
Alex Pereira further said
Pereira reminisced about his hefty travel schedule ahead of his 2016 kickboxing bout vs. Israel Adesanya in China. But that didn’t ultimately affect the outcome of the fight. It was a unanimous decision in his favor. Now that he seeks his fourth-straight title defense, the light heavyweight champion is confident in himself.
Related: Alex Pereira hails Jon Jones; draws clear line for ‘GOAT’ criteria: “What matters is…”
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