Alex Pereira has a secret weapon in his trainig camp, fomer light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira.
Not many men get to train with a former UFC champion every day. Alex Pereira came to the UFC back in 2021 after a very successful kickboxing career. He joined a gym in Connecticut that happened to be owned by his good friend, former UFC champion Glover Teixeira. Together they worked hard for Pereira to become just as great in MMA as he had been in kickboxing, and it all seemed to be working out. Together Pereira became UFC middleweight champion and Teixeira became UFC light heavyweight champion.
Now the tables have turned a bit. Neither man is holding UFC gold at this time. Teixeira has retired from the sport and Pereira is making a move to 205 pounds after losing his title to Israel Adesanya. In his first light heavyweight bout, Pereira will be facing Jan Blachowicz and will be looking to Teixeira to prepare him.
Alex Pereira will be taking advice from Glover Teixeira on how to beat Jan Blachowicz
Blachowicz is a former champion himself. He ruled the light heavyweight division from 2020 to 2021. It was Teixeira who defeated him and took his title away. Now Teixeira will be taking what he learned in his win over Blachowicz and bringing that to his training with Pereira. Pereira took to YouTube to discuss this move to light heavyweight and his upcoming bout.
“My next opponent will be Jan Blachowicz,” he said. “He is a dangerous guy, an experienced guy and a guy we know. My training partner Glover Teixeira was fighting him. I’m sure training hard with Glover, he will pass me a lot of stuff, for sure as he is always doing. Everyone knows Blachowicz is a dangerous guy, an all-rounder, but I think it is a good first fight for me. “
During his middleweight run, fans were amazed at how large Pereira was for the division. He never missed weight but may have exhausted his opportunities there. He fought Adesanya twice in a row and although their rivalry is very compelling, it was time to move on. He is excited about the prospect of adding another belt to his mantel.
“When I say first fight some people think, oh that is an easy opponent,” he continued “No, all of you know my story, I was middleweight champ, so for sure, they wanted to give me someone in the top five ranked. For me, it was no surprise. We were negotiating for a while. I was waiting for him so that’s it.”
Pereira vs. Blachowicz will be taking place on the UFC 291 card on July 29, 2023.
