Alex Pereira went from unranked to champion in the span of 12 months. The former two-division Glory Kickboxing champion had a lot of hype when he was signed to the UFC in late 2021 and lived up to it with a flying knee knockout of Andreas Michailidis at UFC 268. With Pereira’s history with former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, it was clear the UFC was trying to fast-track him. But the narrative was: This is MMA, not kickboxing. To kick off his 2022, Pereira was matched up with Bruno Silva – a Brazilian finisher who had knocked out his past seven opponents. Pereira won the fight, but he wasn’t able to put Silva away – which appeared to have put a slight halt to his momentum.
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MMA Junkie’s 2022 Breakout Fighter of the Year: Alex Pereira – MMA Junkie