Alex Pereira's UFC 313 defeat continues a long-running UFC curse which has also claimed his former nemesis, Israel Adesanya

Alex Pereira is no stranger to superstition. After all, his former opponent, Jiří Procházka, once accused him of black magic. However, he is also tied to another superstition, which also befell Israel Adesanya, one which includes the World MMA Awards and the winners of the Charles 'Mask' Lewis Fighter of the Year award.

After the great Robbie Lawler, who won the award on Jan. 31, 2015, nearly every other fighter who won it lost their very next bout, including 'Poatan.' The trend began with Conor McGregor, who won the award on Feb. 5, 2016, only to suffer a stunning submission loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 196 a month afterward.

However, that same year, 'The Notorious' rebounded by beating Diaz in a rematch and dethroning Eddie Alvarez as the UFC lightweight champion to win Fighter of the Year again on March 2, 2017. However, this was followed by back-to-back losses to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in boxing and Khabib Nurmagomedov in the UFC.

After the Irishman, Max Holloway won the honor on July 4, 2018, and managed to survive the alleged curse by beating Brian Ortega later that same year. However, he subsequently lost to Dustin Poirier in a lightweight excursion. The next winner was Daniel Cormier, who was awarded the honor on July 4, 2019.

Afterward, he was TKO'd by Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight tittle in their rematch. The next victim of the supposed curse was Adesanya, who followed 'DC' as the annual Fighter of the Year, winning the award on Dec. 27, 2020. Alas, he then suffered his first professional loss to Jan Błachowicz.

This was followed by Kamaru Usman winning on Dec. 10, 2021, only to get knocked out cold by Leon Edwards. Then, it was Alexander Volkanovski, who was honored by the award on Dec. 9, 2022, but suffered his first UFC loss afterward in a competitive bout with Islam Makhachev.

Back to Edwards, he won the award on Dec. 14, 2023, but defeated the trash-talking Colby Covington on Dec. 16. He did, though, lose next on July 27, 2024 to Belal Muhammad. Finally, 'Poatan' won the award on Dec. 5, 2024, only to lose his light heavyweight title to Ankalaev on March 8, 2025.

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Alex Pereira was the subject of another 'curse' ahead of UFC 313

Before the UFC 313 main event, Alex Pereira snapped a backstage picture with tech billionaire and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. This was followed by 'Poatan' losing his light heavyweight title to Magomed Ankalaev in the headliner.

This is regarded as the Zuckerberg curse, with fighters who associate with him losing their subsequent bouts, which happened to Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski.