Hands of Stone – The Alex Pereira Workout

Long before he became a two-division UFC champion, Alex Pereira was growing up in a working-class neighbourhood of São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil. Born on July 7, 1987, Pereira came from a modest background and a tough environment that helped shape the resilience he would later bring to combat sports.

As a youngster, Pereira was initially drawn to football (soccer) and spent much of his childhood playing the sport. Fighting was not yet a career path, but his eventual introduction to combat sports would completely change the direction of his life.

By his early twenties, Alex Pereira was working in a tyre shop and drinking heavily. Alcohol had become part of the routine, and Pereira has spoken openly about developing a drinking problem during this period. With his life beginning to drift in the wrong direction, he needed something capable of breaking the cycle.

In 2009, at the age of 21, Pereira walked into a kickboxing gym. Initially, the goal was simple: use training to help him stop drinking. Instead, he discovered the discipline that would completely redirect his life. The gym gave him structure, purpose, and somewhere productive to channel his aggression.

What began as a way to escape alcohol became the foundation of an extraordinary fighting career. Within a few years, Pereira would go from working in a tyre shop to competing professionally, beginning the journey that would eventually take “Poatan” to world championships in both kickboxing and MMA.

What began as a way to escape alcohol quickly revealed something else: Alex Pereira could fight. Despite taking up kickboxing relatively late, his combination of timing, composure, and devastating power carried him rapidly through the Brazilian circuit and into professional competition.

After moving to Curitiba, Brazil, Pereira continued developing under coach Anderson França, sharpening the striking style that would become his trademark. As the level of competition increased, so did Pereira’s reputation. His precision and exceptional power made him increasingly dangerous, particularly the left hook that would eventually become synonymous with “Poatan”.

His breakthrough onto the international stage ultimately took him to GLORY Kickboxing, where Pereira established himself among the sport’s elite. He captured the GLORY Middleweight Championship and later added the Light Heavyweight Championship, becoming the promotion’s first fighter to hold titles in two divisions simultaneously.

Along the way came the rivalry that would follow him into MMA. Pereira defeated Israel Adesanya twice in kickboxing, first by decision and then by knockout. Those victories cemented Pereira’s reputation as one of the most dangerous strikers in combat sports—and set the stage for a rivalry that was far from finished.