Alex Pereira controversially shares sparring footage of him battering opponent to a bloody mess (2024)

UFC fighter Alex Pereira has somewhat controversially released footage from a recent training session in which he left his sparring partner bloodied. In a sort of unwritten rule in mixed martial arts and boxing, sparring footage should never be made public, but the Brazilian hasn't followed those rules.

Pereira wasted no time in establishing himself as one of the most feared men in all of MMA after transitioning to the sport from kickboxing and making his UFC debut in 2021. In just eight fights in Dana White’s company, he has already won championships in two weight divisions.

Alex Pereira's Dominance in UFC

Eight fights, seven wins, one loss

The Brazilian’s rapid rise saw him capture the UFC middleweight championship from his former kickboxing rival Israel Adesanya at UFC 281 in just his fourth bout with the company. After dropping the title back to the Nigerian at UFC 287, in his only loss in the company to date, Pereira transitioned to light heavweight and yet again soared to the top of the division.

In his second fight in the light heavyweight weight class, Pereira defeated Jiří Procházka to capture the vacant championship at UFC 295 before successfully defending the title against former champion Jamahal Hill, stopping him with an impressive first-round knockout at last month’s UFC 300 event.

After accomplishing so much in such a short amount of time, Pereira would have been forgiven for taking a short break from the relentless schedule of an MMA fighter following his latest victory, but judging by a recent post on his Instagram account, that is far from the case.

Pereira’s nickname of ‘Poatan’, which translates as ‘stone hand’, was put on full display during a recent training session which saw his sparring partner busted open by the hard-hitting Brazilian.

In the footage posted on Pereira’s Instagram, the sparring session seems to be going as usual, before the intensity steps up rather quickly with both fighters throwing heavy punches. Unsurprisingly, the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion got the better of the exchange and has shared the footage, as well as proudly posing for a picture with his bloodied teammate.

Alex Pereira's Next Fight

Alex Pereira’s next fight has yet to be announced, but he has not ruled out the possibility of chasing a championship in yet another weight class. After his victory at UFC 300, Pereira floated the ambitious idea of facing Tom Aspinall for the interim UFC heavyweight championship at UFC 301, but a broken toe suffered by the Brazilian in his fight against Jamahal Hill quickly put any hopes of that fight coming to fruition to bed.

Pereira has also expressed a desire not to hold up the light heavyweight division, telling MMA Fighting last month: "I don't want to hold up the light heavyweight division. A cool scenario would have been fighting at heavyweight [at UFC 301] and then giving the opportunity to someone to fight for the light heavyweight belt next. I think that would have been cool. If it's a longer period of time, I'd obviously rather defend my belt. If it takes too long, and I fight at heavyweight and there are injuries, when am I going to defend my belt? I don't want to hold up the division."

As for Tom Aspinall, it has been revealed that the British fighter will be defending his interim UFC heavyweight championship against Curtis Blaydes when the UFC comes to Manchester, England for UFC 304 on the 27th of July.