Once Israel Adesanya began to have success in the UFC, Alex Pereira’s name started to be heard in MMA circles. By that time Pereira had defended the Glory kickboxing middleweight title a few times. The reason Pereira’s name popped up regarding Adesanya was because he knocked out the current UFC middleweight champ in what was the Adesanya’s final kickboxing fight in 2017.
Pereira became a two-division Glory champion in January 2021 when he won the light heavyweight crown via split decision over Artem Vakhitov. Vakhitov took the title back from Pereira in September 2021. By that time, Pereira had a 3-1 record in MMA.