Alex Pereira ended UFC 281 with a gold belt wrapped round his waist after a fifth-round TKO win over Israel Adesanya. Upon his return to the fitness center after the struggle, “Poatan” was additionally awarded a brand new belt, this time to indicate his ascent within the ranks of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
In a video posted by MMA correspondent Ariel Helwani, Pereira was given his brown belt by his coach Plinio Cruz, who lauded the newly-crowned champion for utilizing jiu-jitsu “to outlive.”
“You guys don’t know, Alex as soon as competed in jiu-jitsu again within the day,” Plinio mentioned within the video above (transcript by MMA Mania). “He was being educated to submit each struggle. As you guys know, he’s an MMA fighter, now one of the best fighter on the planet, beating probably the greatest fighters of all time.
“However, you guys know Alex’s been following jiu-jitsu, too. He’s displaying enchancment, he’s displaying respect, he’s displaying he’s hungry to be taught as a result of it’s combined martial arts, not solely kickboxing.
“So, with that mentioned, for those who guys noticed that struggle Saturday … takedowns, sweeps, leg locks, virtually like an actual jiu-jitsu man,” he continued. “However the principle a part of jiu-jitsu just isn’t about submitting. It’s not about successful. It’s about surviving. And beneath probably the most laborious circumstances, he used jiu-jitsu to outlive.
“He survived and in the long run, he stood on his ft and knocked the man out. That takes a really high-level man within the head, within the coronary heart, within the method. Due to that, I consider and our coaches consider that we wish to reward him with a brown belt.”
The 35-year-old Pereira is now 3-0 in opposition to Adesanya as he improves to a pro-MMA document of 7-1.
