Alex Pereira Slammed After Footage Emerges of Him Brutally Knocking Out Sparring Partner

UFC light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira, has been slammed online for knocking out his sparring partner with a brutal left hand.

Pereira, who boasts 32 knockout wins across a glittering kickboxing and mixed martial arts career, seemingly added one more to his resume in a recent training session, with footage rather controversially finding its way online.

One major rule in combat is that all sparring footage remains private; it should never find its way onto the internet, but that’s not what has happened in this instance involving the UFC champion.

Alex Pereira Knocks Out Sparring Partner

In footage posted online, the Brazilian fighter can be seen peppering the man with punches before delivering a lightning-fast left hand to the chin, dropping his unlucky opponent to the delight and amusement of several others in the gym.

However, fans online were less than impressed with the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion, with many expressing disgust at the footage.

“Why, though, why is he going so hard? This makes him look bad….,” one fan wrote. “Knocking out your sparring partner is trashy. Recording and posting it is scumbag behaviour,” another fan stated.

“This is almost as bad as Strickland trying to flatline influencers. In what world is this cool?” a third fan asked.

“Love Alex, but knocking out an Uber driver is wild,” another fan humorously observed.

But one fan was a little more sympathetic to the UFC star, as they wrote: “Why are y’all hating on Alex like he was the one that posted it? We’ve seen Alex spar plenty of times, and he always usually goes easy, especially with fans. I doubt I was actually trying to embarrass this guy, and y’all just use anything as an excuse to hate.”

Alex Pereira’s UFC Career to Date

Pereira won the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 320, avenging his loss to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 earlier this year, stopping the Russian with punches and elbows, resulting in a first-round TKO and the Brazilian’s second reign as light heavyweight champion. But he didn’t emerge from the bout totally unscathed; he ended up breaking his foot during the contest.

Nicknamed ‘Poatan’, meaning ‘Stone Hands’ in the Tupi language of his Brazilian indigenous ancestors, Pereira has enjoyed a successful combat sport career, winning the UFC middleweight title in addition to his two light heavyweight successes. He’s been awarded Performance of the Night on six occasions, and his bout with Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307 was voted Fight of the Night.