"Impossible to hate unless you're Anthony Smith" - Fans hilariously react to Alex Pereira turning his popular meme into a t-shirt

Alex Pereira recently proved just how good his sense of humor is. The former UFC middleweight champion sportingly turned his famous 'stone-face' meme into a printed t-shirt and posed for a picture on social media.

For context, Pereira's facial expressions are often likened to the historical Easter Island moai, thanks to his perpetual stoic demeanor and solemn looks. The moai are carved human figures with oversized heads created by Easter Islanders during the 13th to 16th centuries. The Brazilian's monicker, 'Poatan,' which translates to "stone hands" in English, also compliments the meme widely associated with him.

Given the viral nature of his meme, it seems Alex Pereira is looking to lean into the joke and make it his own. The light heavyweight contender recently posted a picture of him sporting the meme on a t-shirt on Instagram.

After @espnmma re-posted the photo, fans flocked to the post's comments section to make their thoughts known.

One fan hilariously referenced Periera's ongoing feud with Anthony Smith and joked:

"Impossible to hate this guy unless you're Anthony Smith, apparently."

Another fan wrote:

"Nah that’s hilarious. I’ve been noticing he has a way better sense of humor than I thought."

One user claimed:

"Okay, this guy has grown on me."

Check out some more comments below:

Screenshots from @espnmma on Twitter

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Anthony Smith fires back at Alex Pereira for "washed up" comments

UFC light heavyweight contenders Alex Pereira and Anthony Smith recently threw vicious verbal jabs at each other. Their feud seemed to stem from 'Lionheart' making some disparaging comments about 'Poatan' on the Believe You Me podcast with Michael Bisping.

Considering Smith's role as a desk analyst for ESPN and the co-host of an MMA-based podcast alongside Bisping, it's unsurprising to hear his unfiltered opinions on other fighters. However, it seems Pereira isn't happy about some of the things Smith said about him.

In a recent video posted on his YouTube channel, Alex Pereira ripped into Anthony Smith, stating:

"If there’s one guy doing well and another guy only criticizing, people aren’t stupid... They’ll see that he’s just a bitter man. The only ones who speak bad about me are Anthony Smith types. Washed-up vets who never amounted to anything, who are still fighting."

Responding to Pereira's verbal assault, Anthony Smith soon issued an equally fiery response. In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Smith said:

"I said a bunch of nice s*** about you and you’re going to talk s***? I don’t think so... That’s not how this works... If you want a f****** rival, you got one right here. I didn’t do s*** to you."