SUMMARY
- Alex Pereira has quickly become a UFC superstar after his arrival in 2021.
- Despite his fame and growing fanbase, Alex is not fluent in English.
Alex Pereira is one of the biggest superstars in the UFC right now. Having risen to the megastar status in such a short span, Pereira has seemingly changed the game. Notably, he has achieved the feat with a very noticeable language barrier as well.
For those unaware, ‘Poatan’ mainly hails from a kickboxing background, where his rivalry with Israel Adesanya originally began. Then, in 2020, Alex fully transitioned to MMA before making his way to the UFC in 2021. Since then he has seen a meteoric rise in the sport, becoming UFC middleweight champion, a little over a year later.
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Moreover, he wouldn’t stop there and would go on to claim the light heavyweight title in 2023, becoming part of an elite group to accomplish two-divisional champ status. At the same time, he has also garnered one of the biggest fanbases in MMA, with fans always eager to see him fight. One of the most loved fighters on the roster, Pereira has managed to win over the fans despite not being able to speak any English, mostly.
Alex Pereira reveals his progress in learning English
For the most part, fans have mostly heard Alex Pereira just say ‘Chama’. In what has become an iconic chant, it seemingly makes up for half of the Brazilian fighter’s vocabulary. At the same time, despite his strong connection with the fans, Pereira has made noticeable efforts in trying to learn English. In the past, we have seen the fighter try and speak the language on a few occasions as well.
The most notable example of Alex speaking English was when he cut a promo for UFC 287. Similarly, after his light heavyweight title win at UFC 295, he issued a callout to ‘The Last Stylebender’ stating, “Hey (Israel) Adesanya, come to daddy.” Naturally, the callout hyped up the fans a lot even if it hasn’t amounted to anything yet. Previously, Alex also revealed that Sean Strickland was helping him learn English as well.
Recently, Pereira appeared on The MMA Hour with his coach Plinio Cruz. Among the various things discussed was his progress with learning English. Here Alex said, “Well, very hard. (I) can understand a little bit, it’s hard to associate some words but (I’m) trying”. Further, he added, “(I’m) learning a little by a little but (I’m) shy, you know what I mean”. As such, the Brazilian is only comfortable speaking English around his close ones for now.
What do we know about Alex Pereira’s nationality and ethnicity?
Understandably, it will take a little bit of time for Alex Pereira to be able to properly communicate in English. In the meantime, he remains elegantly fluent in Portuguese. Although he is a man of few words, the fighter does his best to make his feelings known in his native tongue. Moroever, with his coaches Glover Teixeira and Plinio Cruz often by his side, Alex is able to properly convey his thoughts to the other person as well.
Born in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, Brazil, Alex had a rather difficult time growing up. Living in a favela, or working-class neighborhood, the fighter had to drop out of middle school to try and support his family. Initially, Alex found work as a bricklayer’s assistant, before moving on to work in a tire shop. However, around this time, he also fell into alcohol addiction before getting into kickboxing in 2009.
Eventually, Alex would go on to become Glory middleweight and light heavyweight champion, becoming the first and only fighter to have held Glory titles in two weight classes simultaneously. Thereafter, he repeated the feat in the UFC after making the transition. Currently, Pereira is gearing up for his first LHW title defense at UFC 300 and planning another at UFC 301 as well.