Who did Alex Pereira lose to 3 times?

UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira is one of the greatest strikers in combat sports history. 'Poatan' holds the monumental record for winning titles in two divisions under the Glory and UFC umbrella. He has been inducted into the Glory Hall of Fame and is now on course to become a UFC Hall of Famer.

Despite all the achievements, Pereira has not been able to retain the '0' in the losses column of his record in MMA as well as kickboxing. Being undefeated is the rarest of the rare occasions on the highest level of martial arts and even the best cannot escape defeat.

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Who did Alex Pereira lose to 3 times?

Alex Pereira had long been imagined to be the kryptonite of kickboxing and MMA rival Israel Adesanya. No matter how well 'The Last Stylebender' fought or appeared to be doing well on the scorecards, Pereira found a way to beat him three times, twice in kickboxing and once in MMA.

But Pereira has been in Adesanya's shoes and knows that sometimes you run into opponents that simply have your number. He lost to the same fighter three times as an amateur kickboxer and could never find a way to beat him.

While speaking in an interview, 'Poatan' said:

"I have 28 fights as an amateur. I won 25 of them by knockout. I lost 3 fights, 3 times to the same guy. I don't understand why. But now I do. The styles don't match. The guy has stopped fighting, and if I fought him again today, I think I'd lose."

Record-keeping in kickboxing is not as extensive and detailed as MMA or boxing. Therefore, it's difficult to find out the name of the mystery fighter who beat Pereira thrice. Pereira's stance on those three losses has changed from time to time. His profile on Glory's official website mentions him saying this:

"The three losses weren't even losses, the judges just gave them the decision for actually surviving the fight."

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Alex Pereira's losses in MMA

In his debut under the Jungle Fight banner, Pereira suffered the first defeat of his MMA career to Quemuel Ottoni.

Ottoni defeated the kickboxer via submission in the third round. The 31-year-old is an impressive MMA fighter and currently has a record of 12 wins and just three losses.

Pereira remained undefeated in MMA for seven years after the loss. He won the UFC middleweight title by knocking out old foe Israel Adesanya at UFC 281 in November 2022.

However, Adesanya got his sweet revenge when he pulled off a devastating knockout win in their UFC 287 rematch, reclaiming the 185-pound title. This was Pereira's second loss in his professional MMA career and first in the UFC.

Watch the finishing sequence below: