The bond between Glover Teixeira and Alex Pereira might be the most admirable student-teacher relationship in MMA right now. It is common knowledge that the 43-year-old coached fellow Brazilian, Alex to win the UFC middleweight title against Israel Adesanya at UFC 281. The duo has always had each other’s backs through thick and thin.
In the midst of preparation for what will be his first title defense, ‘Poatan’ took to YouTube to post a tiny glimpse of his training camp. As per the video, former light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira appears to have a pep talk with his gym students. He also expresses pride over Alex Pereira’s hunger to learn. Glover shares that despite being a GLORY and UFC champion, Alex doesn’t hesitate to ask striking-related questions.
While sharing insights about the duo’s early days, Glover shared, “He[Alex] is doing his training like I did. I opened my gym here in 2014. So I became a champion here like this. I brought people here myself. I brought Poatan here too to help me, and he stayed here. This guy here trained and stayed. Today he is a world champion because he has the conditions to be a champion.”
“This is why I want to coach him. His questions, he’s asking things. Sometimes he asks about striking. and I’m saying ‘f**k man, this guy is asking me about striking’. He’s always asking, man. This is the objective to train, man.”
Despite being 3-0 against ‘Izzy’, albeit 2-0 in kickboxing, ‘Poatan‘ is heading into the MMA rematch as a shocking underdog. With Glover in his corner, Alex Pereira will undoubtedly have all the guidance he needs to keep the belt in Brazil. However, fans are curious as to how well-readjusted Adesanya will be in the UFC 287 main event.
Alex Pereira’s decorated kickboxing record
Ever since his TKO victory over Israel Adesanya, Pereira found his name sent to the MMA stratosphere. However, the 35-year-old had quite an illustrious career in the kickboxing realm before his transition to MMA. The veteran earned a record of 33-7 during his kickboxing reign from 2012 to 2021.
In the year 2012, Pereira made his professional Kickboxing debut at Jungle Fight 37, where he defeated Clei Silva via decision. Poatan went on to fight for W.A.K.O. World Championship, WGP Kickboxing, and GLORY Kickboxing later in his career. Pereira started bearing his labor’s fruits when he won the GLORY middleweight championship in 2017.
During his kickboxing run, Alex secured two of his most famous wins. He defeated the future UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya twice, once by unanimous decision, and once by way of a knockout.
Pereira secured a unanimous victory over Simon Marcus at GLORY 46 for the middleweight belt. The 35-year-old went on a tear through the division, defending his belt 5 consecutive times before moving up and winning the interim light heavyweight belt. In an attempt to unify the belt, Alex defeated Artem Vakhitov, thus becoming the first GLORY fighter to hold two belts simultaneously.
Along with packing his signature left hook, Pereira had a perplexing ability to walk his opponents down. This reflects in the fact that 21 out of his 33 victories have come by way of stellar knockouts. His one-punch knockouts have earned him the nickname ‘Poatan’, which literally translates to ‘Stone Hands’. The Brazilian engraved 7 losses on his record during his 9-year kickboxing journey.