UFC champion Alex Pereira says the scariest fight of his career came not from a defeat, but from a fight that ended in a vicious KO win.
Back in 2020 when Alex Pereira was signed for the LFA promotion, he viciously knocked out American Thomas Powell in the very first round; one of the most brutal KOs you will ever see, Powell was left unconscious for several worrying minutes.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, ‘Poatan’ revealed that Powell was the fight that “scared him the most” because of his genuine concern that he could have inflicted life-changing injuries to his opponent.
Alex Pereira on the fight that ‘scared him the most’
The former middleweight and current light heavyweight champion admitted on Wednesday’s episode of The MMA Hour that waiting for Powell to wake up was the ‘scariest’ moment of his professional career.
The Brazilian landed a beautiful hook flush on the ear of Powell, but even the commentary team became concerned for the American after several minutes went by before he regained consciousness.
“It’s the fight that scared him [Pereira] the most in the aspect of hurting somebody because you go there prepared, you do it all and come to win the fight, but after the fight you still want your opponent to [be able] to go home to his family.”
Speaking through his translator and friend Plinio Cruz, the light heavyweight champ said that “even Glover [Teixeira] was concerned about what was going on” since Powell “literally stayed for eight minutes unconscious on the floor.”
“Seeing that was kind of hardcore. He [Pereira] can be the stone face, but he still has a good heart. So, he was scared for a little bit.”
Pereira defends his light heavyweight belt vs Hill at UFC 300
In the immediate aftermath of Ilia Topuria’s incredible KO win over Volkanovski, Dana White took to social media to confirm Pereira’s return in the main event of UFC 300 against Jamahal Hill.
It’s certainly no easy task for ‘Poatan’ against the former title holder, a title that Hill never actually lost inside the octagon – instead forced to vacate through injury in 2023.
After knocking out Israel Adesanya to win the middleweight title, ‘The Last Stylebender’ was able to exact his revenge against the Brazilian in 2023 with a vicious round-two KO victory, forcing Pereira to move up to 205lbs in the process.
It was a move that many fans had been anticipating for some time, with Pereira earning a unanimous decision victory in impressive fashion over Jan Blachowicz, before finishing former champ Jiri Prochazka in the second round of their title fight at UFC 295.
If Pereira can make quick work of ‘Sweet Dreams’ at UFC 300, he shared earlier this week hopes for a quick turnaround to headline UFC 301 in Brazil, which would be his first MMA fight in his home country since 2016.