FORMER UFC MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION PEREIRA ON LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT V PROCHAZKA
Alex Pereira (8-2, fighting out of Danbury, Conn. by way of Sao Paulo, Brazil) looks to become a two-division UFC champion by defeating Procházka in dominant fashion
Former UFC middleweight champion
No. 3 UFC light heavyweight
No. 11 UFC pound-for-pound fighter
Six wins by knockout, three first-round finishes
Alex Pereira (8-2, fighting out of Danbury, Conn. by way of Sao Paulo, Brazil) looks to become a two-division UFC champion by defeating Procházka in dominant fashion
Former UFC middleweight champion
No. 3 UFC light heavyweight
No. 11 UFC pound-for-pound fighter
Six wins by knockout, three first-round finishes
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Alex, over here. Third fight here at Madison Square Garden. I'm curious, is it still special to you as the first time or is this now just another fight for you here in New York City?
00:09 [speaking portuguese]
00:30 No, it's a very special place. It's still the place that I made my UFC debut, where I became a champion. So now fighting for the belt here is something important to me too.
00:40 Do you now have fight week down like perfectly here at Madison Square Garden, New York Madison Square Garden, you know, same hotel, same routine, meeting, everything now that this is just old habit for you here in New York?
00:51 [speaking portuguese]
01:08 Everything is important to me, like I mentioned before, I made my debut here, I was a champion here, so it's very important.
01:15 You're obviously fighting Yuri Prohaska. I'm curious, as someone who obviously you come from a striking background, us as media and fans, they view Yuri as this wild, unorthodox, chaotic fighter.
01:26 So I'm curious, when you watch tape on him and study him, is he as unorthodox and chaotic as we think or is there like a method to his madness that you see in there?
01:36 [speaking portuguese]
01:53 [speaking portuguese]
02:12 Well, definitely a hard opponent, unpredictable, yes, but all the experience that I have on striking and kickboxing, I'm gonna be using all that on the day of the fight.
02:21 What was going through your mind when you watched this fight against Glover? Obviously you were in Glover's team, but a lot of people think that's one of the best, if not the best, title fights in UFC history and just how it all played out.
02:32 So I'm curious, just watching it, what was going through your mind?
02:35 [speaking portuguese]
02:47 [speaking portuguese]
02:55 [speaking portuguese]
03:22 [speaking portuguese]
03:45 It seems, just looking at the rest of the year, as soon as this fight was announced, this fight seemed to be the one most fans were most excited for.
03:52 We had John Stipe, we had the title fight in December, but it seems you and Yuri was the fight that fans in general circled as must watch.
04:01 So do you get the sense that, or has that reached you, just the magnitude of the fans and excitement level for this fight?
04:07 [speaking portuguese]
04:24 [speaking portuguese]
04:53 [speaking portuguese]
04:54 [speaking portuguese]
05:10 What did it mean to be inducted into the Glory kickboxing hall of fame?
05:13 [speaking portuguese]
05:42 [speaking portuguese]
05:51 [speaking portuguese]
06:08 And final one for me, obviously there was some video clips of you sparring with Dylan Dennis before his fight against Logan Paul.
06:13 I'm curious, what was it like training with him and do you think the UFC should sign him?
06:18 Because he seems pretty adamant that he wants to be in the UFC.
06:21 [speaking portuguese]
06:38 [speaking portuguese]
07:07 [speaking portuguese]
07:10 [speaking portuguese]
07:36 Alex, obviously Yuri's style is so reckless and sort of un-technical.
07:40 Do you think that makes it easier for you as a technical striker to find that opening for your great punches?
07:45 Or do you think it'll take you a while to work out because he's so unconventional?
07:48 [speaking portuguese]
08:04 [speaking portuguese]
08:17 He seems to fight on a fight style that's kind of hard to understand at first, but I've been training hard, I have my weapons and I'm going to show that on the fight.
08:24 Some fans have been very excited by the fact that this is almost your indigenous heritage versus his samurai obsession.
08:32 I'm curious if you've seen that and if you find that exciting.
08:35 [speaking portuguese]
09:00 [speaking portuguese]
09:12 Last one for me, were you surprised how easy it was to prank Daniel Cormier?
09:16 [speaking portuguese]
09:45 [speaking portuguese]
09:47 It was fun because at first he didn't want to do it, I had to convince him, but when he looked forward,
09:53 obviously I was never going to swing the golf club on him, but I saw that on a video on Instagram earlier in the day, so I did that to him, it was really fun.
10:00 Alex, over here to your left.
10:02 Last year, same place, same weekend, you were a pretty big underdog against Israel,
10:07 Adesanya knocked him, or TKO victory at the Garden.
10:11 Just kind of curious, a year later now, you're a pretty decent sized favorite in a light heavyweight title.
10:16 How does it feel to be in this spot and get the respect of the oddsmakers just a year later?
10:20 [speaking portuguese]
10:36 [speaking portuguese]
11:03 I'm going to be honest, I don't know if I feel this thing about being a favorite or not,
11:06 it doesn't play nothing in my mind because I've got to say sharp regards,
11:09 I cannot just think that, "Okay, I'm the favorite, so it's going to be an easier fight," or anything like that, no man.
11:14 I'm coming here prepared for a war, for whatever happens.
11:18 Alex, just over here.
11:20 You have an opportunity to capture two UFC belts.
11:23 What does this opportunity mean to you and your legacy?
11:26 [speaking portuguese]
11:54 It definitely means a lot to me.
11:56 I did the kickboxing, so now I'm trying to get this in here.
12:00 This means a lot not for me, but it means a lot to be able to motivate my people to see that they can believe that it happens,
12:08 and also to motivate the ones that don't believe, the ones that don't think it's possible, to show that it's possible.
12:14 You predicted Sean Strickland winning the title.
12:18 You were quite vocal about how you thought he would do against Israel Adesanya.
12:22 I'm just curious, Sean Strickland is going to be defending his title for the first time against Drikos Duplessis.
12:28 How do you think that fight goes down?
12:30 [speaking portuguese]
12:41 [speaking portuguese]
12:54 I didn't stop to really analyze the fight, to really look into it, but I really believe that it's going to be really hard for Drikos Duplessis to defeat Sean Strickland.
13:03 Thank you.
13:05 Over here.
13:08 The major storyline going into this fight is, of course, avenging Glover Teixeira's defeat to Jerry.
13:15 What advice did he give you to essentially put that in the back burner, put that in the back of your mind,
13:20 and not fight to avenge him, but fight to be a world champion again in another weight class?
13:24 [speaking portuguese]
13:38 [speaking portuguese]
14:04 I'm going to focus on this fight to fight for the title.
14:07 It's really sad what happened with Glover to lose the fight, but I've got to stay grounded and focus on this.
14:11 Glover is my friend, but I'm going there to fight for the belt.
14:15 You get past Jerry, who would you want to fight, or who is on your radar that you would want to defend the title against first?
14:20 [speaking portuguese]
14:24 [speaking portuguese]
14:33 I sincerely do not have plans. I'm really focused on this fight.
14:37 After this fight happens, we'll see what happens.
14:39 Cool. Thank you.
14:41 One quick question for you is, are you ever planning on going back to middleweight ever again, win or lose after this?
14:51 [speaking portuguese]
14:58 [speaking portuguese]
15:15 No, I don't think so. Like I mentioned before, I did have plans for middleweight,
15:19 but I fought a lot in that weight class and taking it upon my body, so I feel good in this weight class.
15:27 Shama.
15:29 [silence]