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Alex Sandro Silva Pereira (born 7 July 1987) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and former kickboxer. He currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and a former UFC Middleweight Champion. He is the ninth fighter in UFC history to become champion in two different weight divisions and the first to become champion in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions of the organization. In kickboxing, he is a former Glory middleweight and light heavyweight champion, and is the first and only fighter to have held Glory titles in two weight classes simultaneously. Pereira also competed in promotions such as It's Showtime and SUPERKOMBAT Fighting Championship in kickboxing, and for Jungle Fight and Legacy Fighting Alliance in MMA. As of 20 February 2024, he is #4 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings. Pereira is the only known fighter to be a two-division world champion in MMA and kickboxing and is regarded as one of the greatest combat athletes of all time.Pereira was ranked #1 in the kickboxing middleweight and light-heavyweight rankings in February 2021. Early life Growing up in a favela, Pereira dropped out of middle school to begin working as a bricklayer's assistant and later in a tire shop. Influenced by his colleagues, he began drinking and eventually became an alcoholic. In 2009, he began training kickboxing in order to get rid of his addiction. Kickboxing career He won the Glory 14: Zagreb - Middleweight Contender Tournament in Zagreb, Croatia on 8 March 2014, beating Dustin Jacoby by first-round knockout in the semi-finals and Sahak Parparyan by majority decision in the final.It was announced during the Glory 15: Istanbul broadcast that Pereira would be one of eight fighters competing in the Glory 17: Los Angeles - Last Man Standing middleweight tournament in Inglewood, California, United States on 21 June 2014. He lost to eventual champion Artem Levin by unanimous decision in the quarter-finals to exit the tournament.He was scheduled to fight a rematch with César Almeida during WGP Kickboxing 25 for the vacant belt WGP Middleweight title. He defeated Almeida by decision. He defended his WGP KB title with a second-round KO of Maycon Silva at WGP KB 40.In his next five fights, Pereira went on a 4–1 run, losing only to the pound for pound great Artur Kyshenko. During this run Pereira achieved his most famous victories, defeating the future UFC Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya twice: once by unanimous decision, and once by a counter left hook KO.Pereira won the Glory Middleweight title with a unanimous decision win against Simon Marcus at Glory 46: China. Glory Middleweight Championship Pereira met Yousri Belgaroui at the Glory 40 and Glory 49 Superfight Series, and then in 2018 in New York Madison Square Garden at the Glory 55 for the Middleweight Title Match, where Belgaroui had received the overhand right knockout at 2:29 of Round 1. For Pereira, it was the 28th career victory and the sixth inside the Glory ring.In November 2018, Pereira said he would pursue MMA career after his contract with Glory will expire in April 2019. Eventually, Pereira re-signed with Glory with possibility to fight in the mixed martial arts also.After four straight successful Glory middleweight title defenses (against Yousri Belgaroui, Simon Marcus and Jason Wilnis), Pereira moved up to fight Donegi Abena for the interim Glory Light Heavyweight Championship at Glory 68. Pereira won the fight via knockout in the third round, becoming the first double champion in Glory history.After winning the Light Heavyweight Championship, Pereira opted to defend his middleweight title against Ertugrul Bayrak at Glory Collision 2 on 21 December 2019. After largely dominating the first round, he won the bout via knockout at the end of the round. Glory Light Heavyweight Championship Pereira was scheduled to challenge Artem Vakhitov for the Glory Light Heavyweight title at Glory 77. Pereira won the fight by split decision, becoming the first fighter in GLORY history to simultaneously hold two belts at the same time.Pereira was later stripped of his Middleweight title.Pereira rematched Artem Vakhitov at Glory 78: Rotterdam in his first title defense. He lost the rematch by majority decision. Pereira was deducted one point in round 4 due to repeated clinching, which was seen by many as a controversial decision by the referee. Mixed martial arts career Early career Transitioning from kickboxing, Pereira made his professional mixed martial arts debut in 2015 at Jungle Fight 82 against Quemuel Ottoni, losing the fight via submission. He continued at Jungle Fight subsequently racking up two straight victories against Marcelo Cruz and Marcus Vinicius Silveira, with a KO and TKO respectively. Pereira announced he had signed a contract to face Diego Henrique da Silva in the Brazilian edition of Dana White's Contender Series on August 10, 2018. However, the bout never materialized as Glory did not permit Pereira to compete.On 22 October 2020, news surfaced that Pereira had signed a contract with Legacy Fighting Alliance and he then made his promotional debut against Thomas Powell on 20 November 2020. He won the fight via knockout in round one. Ultimate Fighting Championship On 3 September 2021, Pereira signed with the UFC. He made his promotional debut against Andreas Michailidis on 6 November 2021, at UFC 268. He won the fight via technical knock out in round two. This win earned him a Performance of the Night award.Pereira faced Bruno Silva on 12 March 2022, at UFC Fight Night 203. Pereira outstruck Silva for all three rounds and won the fight via unanimous decision.Pereira was scheduled to face Sean Strickland on 30 July 2022, at UFC 277. However, the promotion decided to move the pairing to UFC 276 on 2 July 2022. Pereira won the fight after knocking Strickland out in the first round. This win earned him a Performance of the Night award, and Crypto.com Fan Bonus of the Night third place award which paid in bitcoin of US$10,000. UFC Middleweight Championship Pereira faced Israel Adesanya for the UFC Middleweight Championship on 12 November 2022, at UFC 281. He won the bout via technical knockout in the fifth round. This win earned him the Performance of the Night award.A rematch between Pereira and Adesanya for the UFC Middleweight Championship took place on 8 April 2023, at UFC 287. He lost the bout via knockout in the final minute of round two. Move to Light Heavyweight On 13 April 2023, Pereira announced via Twitter that he was moving up to the Light Heavyweight division.Pereira faced former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jan Błachowicz on 29 July 2023 at UFC 291. He won the back-and-forth fight via split decision. UFC Light Heavyweight Championship Pereira faced former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jiří Procházka for the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight Championship belt .... Discover the Alex Light popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Alex Light books.