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Alex Pereira is a newcomer to the division currently ruled by UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. In fact, with only six fights cited on his record, the Brazilian is a newcomer to MMA as a whole.
What he lacks in experience as a mixed martial artist, Pereira makes up for with his experience as a multi-time kickboxing world champion across multiple divisions.
He is a veteran of 40 fights, with two of his bouts being victories over Adesanya. His second win over the Nigerian was more decisive than the first, and it remains the only knockout loss in Adesanya's career as a professional combat sports athlete.
However, 'The Last Stylebender' has amassed 23 fights as a mixed martial artist. He is currently scheduled for his 24th bout against Jared Cannonier at the upcoming UFC 276 event.
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Many regard him as one of the greatest strikers in MMA today. He appears to be primed for a long reign as the UFC middleweight champion, having bested many of the division's top contenders.
Robert Whittaker, Paulo Costa, Kelvin Gastelum, Yoel Romero, and Marvin Vettori are among the list of his failed challengers. With Alex Pereira slated to take part in a title eliminator against Sean Strickland at UFC 276, there is much interest in a potential matchup between the Brazilian and his Nigerian rival, provided both men emerge victorious.
Should both men lock horns in a potential bout at some point in the future, Alex Pereira could prove himself to be a difficult matchup for 'The Last Stylebender'.
#5 Alex Pereira's low kicks
A curious observation of many of Adesanya's opponents is that they rarely, if ever, throw low kicks against him. Even the middleweight champion's midsection goes untouched for most of his bouts.
Instead, the more his foes miss punches when they target his head, the more they obsess over landing on Adesanya's chin.
By leaning away and causing his opponents to miss punches and kicks, he causes them to mistakenly believe that since their strikes are missing, the few that do land must land with fight-ending power.
Thus, his foes become hyperfixated on his head as they fall into the illusion that Adesanya is too elusive or too far away to be hit, yet his legs and midsection remain within range.
Alex Pereira, however, does not fall into such traps. Whenever the Brazilian faces opponents who do not come forward and engage with him in the pocket where his lead left hook is most useful, he punishes them from long range with hard low kicks.
Similarly, opponents who opt to remain elusive and circle away from him, when he applies pressure, and attempt to close the distance will inevitably eat powerful low kicks from him.
While 'The Last Stylebender' leans away from punches, his midsection is always the second body part to exit range and his legs are the last to do so. This exposes them to low kicks if his opponent throws a combination over the top to draw out the lean, only to punish his legs with low kicks.
If Adesanya chooses to sit on the outside, he will also be a recipient of Alex Pereira's low kicks. They will not only cause damage, but limit his mobility, making him more hittable.
#4. His defense against low kicks
A major component of Adesanya's striking arsenal involves low kicking his opponents from the outside. The reigning middleweight champion will often stand beyond his foe's reach, flicking out his jab and or executing hard low kicks.
Not only does he throw a high volume of low kicks in every bout, he also throws his low kicks with enormous power, turning his hips into every kick.
The Nigerian's intention is not merely to score points on the scorecard. It is to inflict damage, as evidenced by the state of Paulo Costa and Yoel Romero's legs after their bouts with 'The Last Stylebender'.
Adesanya has been able to do this without much deterence in MMA as most of the fighters he encounters don't have layered defenses against his low kicks.
'Poatan' does. He checks low kicks by lifting and turning his shin outward to block the thinner, lower shin of his foe's kicking leg with the thicker, upper shin of his defending leg. Along with that, he also draws out his opponent's low kick to counter it.
Low kicks are strong counters for the jab as fighters must step in with their lead leg when they jab. Alex Pereira feints the jab to draw out his foe's low kick.
The Brazilian then quickly retracts his lead leg, and as his opponent's kicking leg is still airborne, he comes forward with a brutal combination over the top when his foe is in a poor position to both defend themselves from punches or absorb them.
#3 He cuts off angles & attacks the body
To stifle a good ring/cage general like Adesanya, a good ring/cage cutter is needed. Many of the Nigerian's opponents do not move laterally with him. Instead, they follow him as he circles, moving linearly in a straight line, making it easier for him to walk them into his counter-punches.
Not only do they not step across with him, they do nothing to render him more stationary. Alex Pereira rarely commits these same mistakes. He is a determined ring/cage cutter who uses knees and round kicks to target the midsection.
Whenever his opponents attempt to circle away from him, he steps across with them, cutting off the angles of escape to keep them in place. Furthermore, he also throws hard round kicks to the body to act as barriers to trap his foe.
When his opponents try to circle away from the fence or ropes, he throws round kicks to the body to intercept their movement. It stops them, holding them in place. Even if the kick lands on their guard, it runs the risk of breaking his opponent's arm, as it did against Ivan Galax at the WGP Kickboxing 24 event.
'Poatan' also throws hard knees at the body when his opponents choose to move linearly or lean away from punches. As the midsection is the second body part to exit range when a foe leans away from blows targeting the head, Alex Pereira smashes his knee square into his opponent's solar plexus.
#2 His height and reach
Like his longtime rival, Alex Pereira is one of the biggest middleweights currently competing in the UFC. He stands at 6 feet 4 inches tall, with a 79 inch reach. The only difference between him and Adesanya is an inch in terms of reach, with the Nigerian possessing an 80 inch reach.
This changes the dynamics of Adesanya's preferred form of defensive striking. He often pulls back at the waist to lean away from his opponent's punches. This causes them to overextend and leaves them in prime position to be countered by counter-left hooks and pull counters.
He's benefitted from being significantly taller and longer than most of his foes. However, Alex Pereira is tall and long enough to have the current middleweight champion still be caught by the end of the Brazilian's punches, even if he leans away from them.
This was part of what rendered Alexander Gustafsson a difficult matchup for Jon Jones in their first bout. The Swede's matching length and height meant that Jones couldn't simply extend his arm out and lean away from punches as he retreated, because Gustafsson's punches still landed.
The same is true for Alex Pereira, who matches Adesanya's stature and will be in a position to land his punches. This is how he knocked his foe unconscious in their second bout.
#1 Pereira has beaten Adesanya twice already
Alex Pereira has defeated Israel Adesanya twice in his career. Both matchups were kickboxing bouts, and much is said about how both fighters have improved since then.
Furthermore, many suggest that the dynamics of a potential third matchup will be different as they will take place under MMA rules, not kickboxing. However, the dynamics won't change at all because all both fighters do in MMA is kickbox.
Neither fighter grapples unless they're forced to engage in defensive grappling when their foes attempt to wrestle or grapple with them.
The situation is similar to the narrative surrounding Valentina Shevchenko's third bout with Joanna Jędrzejczyk. The two women fought each other twice in kickboxing matchups before their third outing in the UFC.
Talks of how an MMA fight would, in some way, change the dynamics of the bout were prominent. Yet when the two women finally locked horns, the bout played out in a manner similar to their first two.
Shevchenko bested Jędrzejczyk in the striking department and her foe didn’t use any grappling to add a new dimension previously unseen in their first two matchups.
The same is likely true for a potential third bout between Alex Pereira and Adesanya. It will be almost purely a kickboxing affair and that is a dynamic that fans have already seen twice. Both fights ended with a victory for Alex Pereira.
