Alex Pereira may be a knockout machine, but what he’s achieved in the UFC in less than a 4-year period has been a unique accomplishment in Dana White‘s promotion. Having won two divisional titles in just seven fights, fans can only wonder about the people behind ‘Poatan’s success. Well, lucky for you, we are going to look into that aspect of Pereira’s fighting background in this article.
Having defended his belt thrice last year, Alex Pereira is gearing up for his fourth one and the first fight of 2025 against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313. But before we get to this weekend, let’s take a closer look at his coaching team.
Who is Alex Pereira’s coach?
Since the beginning of his MMA venture, Alex Pereira has been training under the tutelage of a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master who’s also a specialist in Muay Thai, Plinio Cruz. ‘Poatan’s BJJ coach is nothing short of a brilliant martial artist who has a black belt in Judo as well as Jiu-Jitsu. Cruz was also a professional fighter, having competed in promotions like Bellator and M-1.
Pereira received his Jiu-Jitsu brown belt from Cruz right after he beat his nemesis, Israel Adesanya. He’s managed to take down ‘Izzy’ in kickboxing and then snatched his title away from him in the UFC as well. All this while Cruz sat in his corner cheering and guiding him! However, Cruz himself hasn’t fought in the cage since 2019. Back then, Alex Pereira’s BJJ coach faced Douglas Humberto Queiroz Silva as his opponent and yielded. Since then, he has made no other commitments than coaching.
Apart from Cruz, ‘Poatan’ is also coached by the former UFC light-heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira for the ground game department. But enough about his coaches because now it’s time to see where he trains and the other fighters on his team.
Alex Pereira’s gym and teammates
Alex Pereira trains with Glover Teixeira at the latter’s gym in Connecticut. The coach has been around for Pereira for his matches, just like Plinio Cruz cornering him from outside the cage. Perhaps it’s no wonder that both the fighters have struck gold with the UFC. However, both of them eventually lost their titles down the line. That doesn’t mean it won’t come back for Pereira.
While Glover Teixeira has retired, he still relentlessly coaches Alex Pereira along with Cruz. Now, ‘Poatan’ is all set to take on Magomed Ankalaev, and his mentor is guaranteed to corner for what people claim is his toughest challenge yet. Besides having top-class coaches, did you know that Alex Pereira also has some of the best MMA fighters in the world today as his training partners? Yes, he does, and one of them even includes a former rival as well.
Alex Pereira has an ungodly amount of power in his ‘Hands of Stone’ and former middleweight champion Sean Strickland got the taste of it when he got knocked out by the Brazilian star at UFC 276. In the aftermath of that clash, ‘Tarzan’ and ‘Poatan’ developed one of the unlikeliest of bonds, becoming training partners, and they even trained ahead of Pereira’s UFC 307 clash. The light heavyweight champ seems to have an affinity towards training with his former rivals, which was apparent when he started training with Yousri Belgaroui, whom he fought three times in Glory, and Belgaroui is one of the few fighters who’ve defeated ‘Poatan’.
Then again, Alex Pereira recently mentioned wanting to move to heavyweight, and he already showed signs that maybe he could fit well in that division when he sparred with Tai Tuivasa. ‘Bam Bam’ didn’t know what to expect from the explosive Brazilian, but he got the same taste as Sean Strickland, recognizing the fact that Pereira was indeed the real deal.
But coming back to one of Alex Pereira’s coaches, there was an important reason why he chose to train with Glover Teixeira. Let’s explore the reason why.
Why did Pereira decide to train with Glover Teixeira?
Glover Teixeira and Alex Pereira share a very close bond, which is often reflected in pranks and interesting conversations on their social media. In terms of his professional career, Teixeira last fought in January 2023 and lost his 205-pound title to Jamahal Hill and right after the fight, he announced his retirement. But how did it all start between Teixeira and Pereira? Well, it was the retired ex-UFC champion who brought him in to train back in 2020.
After training with Glover Teixeira, which wasn’t very easy, MMA became very enticing to the reigning UFC heavyweight champion, and he decided to train under the tutelage of the 45-year-old because of his experience in MMA. “When I came here, it was not easy for me. But I said, ‘I’ve got to stay.’ Now I love it. I am at a level in MMA where I can fight anyone,” said Alex Pereira in 2022 to ESPN, a couple of years after he started training with the former UFC fighter.
Well, Alex Pereira is on a roll now, and it will be interesting to see if he can edge past Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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