Alex Pereira created history as he stopped Israel Adesanya in the fifth round at UFC 281 to become the new UFC Middleweight Champion of the world. In the process, Pereira joined the likes of Brock Lesnar and Tito Ortiz to win a UFC title in less than 10 outings (after 2000) as a mixed martial artist.
In doing so, he also broke several other records. Pereira became the first fighter to hand a stoppage loss to Israel Adesanya in mixed martial arts, and the first fighter to hand him a loss in the UFC’s Middleweight division. Poatan is also the 100th UFC Champion.
Alex Pereira is the fighter of the year 2022 💯
3 fights. 3 wins. Went from being unranked to UFC Middleweight Champion 🏆#UFC281 pic.twitter.com/bKtcilA29I
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) November 13, 2022
Alex Pereira competed in his eighth mixed martial arts fight and his 4th UFC appearance when he stepped inside the cage against Israel Adesanya on November 12 for the UFC gold in MSG. As for Brock Lesnar, the Beast Incarnate became the UFC Heavyweight Champion of the world in just his fourth MMA fight. The title win against Randy Couture was also Lesnar’s third UFC appearance.
Tito Ortiz made his MMA debut inside the UFC Octagon back at UFC 13 in May 1997. He would beat Wanderlei Silva at UFC 25 to become the UFC’s Light-Heavyweight Champion of the world.
List of UFC fighters with the least number of MMA fights to become UFC Champion
If we date back to before 2000, right around the time when UFC started, there are several UFC fighters who got hold of the UFC gold without much experience inside the cage.
Mark Coleman became the UFC Heavyweight Champion in just his sixth UFC fight by defeating Dan Severn at UFC 12. Randy Couture defeated Maurice Smith via a split decision back at UFC Japan in December of 1997 to become the UFC Heavyweight Champion. It was just his 4th MMA fight.
Nov15.2008
12 years ago today,
Brock Lesnar became the UFC Heavyweight Champion in his 4th professional fight. pic.twitter.com/qWZ56P0XKl
— MMA History Today (@MMAHistoryToday) November 15, 2020
Frank Mir became the UFC Heavyweight Champion in his ninth professional MMA fight after he beat Tim Sylvia via submission at UFC 48 back in June of 2004. Cain Velasquez defeated Brock Lesnar in just his 9th mixed martial arts fight saw him become the UFC Heavyweight Champion of the world.
Alex Pereira joins this list of elite fighters to have won the UFC gold without more than 10 fight experiences as a mixed martial artist.