From alcoholic teenage tire salesman to UFC's first-ever triple champion

'I want people from the slums to know what's possible'

Alex Pereira strikes his signature bow-and-arrow pose. [Getty Images]
Alex Pereira strikes his signature bow-and-arrow pose. [Getty Images]

Alex "Poatan" Pereira (38, Brazil), who is chasing an unprecedented three-division title sweep in UFC history, said his motivation as a fighter is to share his story with as many people as possible.

Pereira will fight No. 1-ranked heavyweight contender Ciryl Gane (35, France) for the interim heavyweight title at UFC Freedom 250, set for June 14 at the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C.

Having claimed the middleweight and light heavyweight titles in just two years inside the UFC, Pereira is now pursuing a triple crown no fighter in the promotion's history has achieved.

In a recent interview with UFC broadcast partner Paramount+, Pereira said the bout carries significant personal weight. "This is very important to me. I'm about to do something no one has ever done before," he said — a sentiment that aligns with widespread speculation that a victory would cement his status as the greatest of all time.

But Pereira said the GOAT label and the fame that comes with it are not what drive him. "A big achievement — especially a third belt — brings more attention, and that lets me show more of my story," he said. "I get the chance to show the hardships I faced as a child, things a lot of people can relate to, even my alcoholism. That matters a great deal to me."

His ambition, in other words, is to move people by showing that he overcame a difficult past. Championships, GOAT status and bigger paychecks are means to an end, not the end itself — a mindset that appears to be one of the reasons for his growing global popularity.

Pereira grew up in a favela, a shantytown on the outskirts of São Paulo, Brazil. Financial hardship forced him to drop out of middle school, and he supported himself through manual labor — working as a bricklayer's assistant and selling tires, among other jobs. During his late teens at the tire shop, he has said, he fell into severe alcoholism, drinking a liter of cachaça, a Brazilian sugarcane spirit, every day.

He has described that period as being "completely lost." In his early 20s, the thought that he could not go on living that way led him to walk into a kickboxing gym — not to become a champion, but to use training as a way to quit drinking. He went on to win a title in the major kickboxing organization Glory, then crossed over to the UFC and claimed the middleweight and light heavyweight belts in succession.

Today, Pereira runs the Poatan Foundation in the neighborhood where he grew up, offering children free classes in kickboxing, jiu-jitsu, English and computer skills. He has said he wants to give kids a way out of the poverty, alcohol and crime that surrounded his own childhood.

Meanwhile, Pereira's opponent Ciryl Gane has signaled that their fight may not be a pure striking contest.

In a separate interview with Paramount+, Gane said he did not want to assume the bout would be entirely a stand-up exchange. "I don't want to say it will be 100 percent a striking fight," he said, "because MMA allows for ground work, and I could finish the fight on the ground."

Both men come from kickboxing backgrounds, and Pereira has not been taken down since his victory over Jiri Prochazka in November 2023, posting a 79 percent takedown defense rate. Gane's takedown defense sits at 47 percent — comparatively lower, though that figure reflects years of competing against larger heavyweight opponents. How the two match up on the ground may only be decided when they step into the octagon.


yjc@heraldcorp.com