Though he didn’t necessarily know it at the time, Alex Pereira was down on the scorecards heading into the fifth round of his middleweight championship clash with Israel Adesanya at UFC 281.
Fortunately for him, he had Glover Teixeira in his corner to provide the appropriate sense of urgency.
“I knew it was going to be a very hard fight,” Pereira said through a translator at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I tried to pace myself, but going into the last round, my corners and Glover kept it real with me.