Alex Pereira Turned To Professional Fighting After Struggling With Alcoholism

One of the best strikers in kickboxing and MMA wasn’t only facing enemies inside the octagon.

Around 10 years ago, Alex Pereira was fighting alcoholism, he admitted. He said he thought turning to professional fighting “could be a way out” of it.

“I’ve had a hard life,” Pereira said.

“I only studied until eighth grade. I didn’t like to study, I’ve never read a book. I had many different jobs, I’ve been a florist, a construction worker. Then I started drinking, I started drinking a lot. That really messed up my life. I can say I became an alcoholic.”

“I had no education, so I started thinking about what I was going to do. Since I was a hoodlum, I liked to start fights, I thought professional fighting could be a way out. It worked for a while. I became a national kickboxing champion while drinking. Then it got to a point where I couldn’t do it anymore.”

Pereira, of Brazil, said he didn’t drink for a while and thought it was under control, but after temporarily relapsing after a visit to a bar, he said he never drank alcohol again.
“ From that moment on, my life changed completely,” he added.

Pereira is currently member of the UFC.

He is fighting in the middleweight and already earned two victories inside the octagon. In his first ever fight in the UFC, he earned a spectacular victory against Andreas Michailidis, in the second round after landing massive flying knee.

In his latest bout he defeated Bruno Silva via unanimous decision, after serving hard rounds.

Pereira is targeted to share the octagon with No. 4 ranked contender Sean Strickland (25-3-0).

Strickland is one of the most dominant strikers in the UFC. He is undefeated in the middleweight since his comeback. He fought five times and earned five dominant victories.

His latest fight was against Jack Hermansson where he earned split decision victory after 25 minutes.
Their bout is likely for UFC 277. Nothing is finalized for this card yet.