UFC Champ Alex Pereira Shares His Fight-Prep Training and Workout
ALEX “POATAN” PEREIRA is one of the most dominant fighters in the UFC, and he’s proved his mettle with an entire career’s worth of big wins in less than five years. The imposing striker currently holds the Light Heavyweight belt (and is a former Middleweight division champion, too); he set the record for the shortest amount of time for three title defenses in the UFC at 175 days. This weekend, he’ll take on Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 for a fourth Light Heavyweight title defense and his eleventh fight since he joined the promotion in 2021 after a storied kickboxing career.
Fans might be surprised to learn that the fighter wasn’t always so dedicated to his craft—and he wound up in combat sports in part because he was looking for a sport, but wasn’t any good at soccer, the national pastime where he grew up in Brazil. “I never learned how to play, I was really bad at it,” Pereira told the MH crew through a translator. But he was looking for a way to turn his life around, so he felt he needed to commit to something to reinforce a healthy lifestyle. He landed on kickboxing, since he was “always out in the streets, fighting with other kids.”
The change he was looking for came quickly. “From the moment I started, I worked hard and dedicated myself to kickboxing,” he said. He didn’t just build discipline and routine with his sport—he became a dominant competitor.
Pereira brings that same level of focus to his preparation now as one of the faces of the UFC, as he shared he training split with MH. Fight training days generally start with shadowboxing. Pereira says he runs through punches, elbows, knees, and kicks on air for four rounds of two to three minutes of increasing intensity, starting with low kicks and loose combinations, then finishing up with higher kicks and full-speed strikes. He’s joined by his sister and training partner, Aline, who is also a pro kickboxer and MMA fighter, for sparring and technique work.
He normally works out twice daily, totaling about two and a half hours (and sometimes even three) for the day. At 11 a.m. is fight training—and on Saturdays, he only does one grappling-focused routine. He shifts his attention to strength training or running for the evening sessions, depending on the day of the week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for weights, Tuesday and Thursday for cardio). Sundays are for rest, which Pereira does consider to be an essential part of the overall program.
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