Alex Pereira, famous for his unyielding poker face, has been linked to the Moai statues of the Easter Islands because of his composure. The Moai sculptures are human figures with disproportionately large heads crafted by Easter Islanders between the 13th and 16th centuries. The Brazilian fighter, known by the nickname ‘Poatan,’ which translates to “stone hands” in English, further aligns with the meme often linked to him.
Pereira is not one to display emotions frequently, whether inside the octagon or in his daily life. Despite his serious demeanor, Pereira has become an internet sensation because of his pranks and humor, which fans found rather surprising as his facial expressions tell a different story altogether.
Alex Pereira turned his meme into a t-shirt 🗿😅
(via @AlexPereiraUFC) pic.twitter.com/ImFSserpSo
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 1, 2023
At an appearance at UFC 292, Pereira was seated in the audience along with many other MMA stars. When the entire arena was taken aback by Sean O’Malley’s remarkable knockout of Aljamain Sterling, Pereira remained completely expressionless. This incident too led fans to create a meme drawing a comparison between Pereira and the “Stone Face” emoji.
In light of the meme’s widespread popularity, it appears that Alex Pereira is embracing the humor and attempting to embrace it as part of his identity. Pereira is a man of few words, preferring to let his actions in the octagon speak for themselves. Fans admire both Pereira’s sportsmanship and his ferocity during fights, cheering for him in both aspects.
Alex Pereira loves the stone-faced meme based on him
The stone-faced meme based on Alex Pereira is really popular amongst the MMA community, and fans love the fact that even the former UFC champion has decided to embrace the joke and be an active part of it. The light heavyweight contender recently shared an Instagram photo of himself wearing the meme on a t-shirt.
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Fans are also enjoying this, as Pereira is one of the most dreaded fighters in the UFC, and seeing him have such a cool sense of humor is just amazing. Moreover, he is even selling that T-shirt on his official merchandise store online. Alex Pereira recently shared a picture with his wife where he was holding a Moai statue, and the caption along with it was: ”We adopt a child”. This was, of course, another reference to the meme based on him.
After defeating former UFC champion Jan Blachowicz in his debut in the light-heavyweight division, Pereira is now set to fight for the 205-lbs title at the main event of UFC 295 against Jiri Prochazka on November 12.