UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira recently showed off his kicking power. ‘Poatan’ easily broke Bas Rutten’s leg kick record.
Alex Pereira was invited to Orlando, Florida to attend Karate Combat 37. Before the event, the Brazilian was invited to the pit at the backlot of Universal Studios. There, he met former UFC heavyweight champion Bas Rutten, who is also one of the hosts of Karate Combat.
They took turns kicking the PowerKube to measure the power of their leg kicks. Rutten went first to kick on the pad. Meanwhile, Pereira threw several kicks to find the right spot so his kick could be measured accurately. After finding his sweet spot, Pereira unleashed a vicious kick. The 35-year-old looked pretty effortless.
However, Pereira made the onlookers gasp when they looked at the score on the PowerKube. His leg kick registered a whopping score of 90987. This number surpassed the record Bas Rutten previously set. The UFC veteran boasted an impressive score of 88388.
With this immense power and neat technique, it’s no wonder that Pereira was able to outmatch former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. Adesanya had a long title reign before Pereira snatched his belt in November at UFC 281.
Alex Pereira is also a veteran in kickboxing. Before switching careers to mixed martial arts, Pereira competed in kickboxing since 2013. Later on, he joined the biggest kickboxing promotion, Glory kickboxing.
He is famous for defeating Adesanya two times. In their second bout in 2017, he managed to knock out Adesanya early in the third round. Which boosted his career in the UFC and qualified him for a title shot after just a year in promotion.
Pereira is certainly a talented kickboxer. However, he lacks grappling skill according to many MMA pundits.
After defeating Israel Adesanya, many middleweight top contenders, who are grappling phenoms, have been calling him out. Even Khamzat Chimaev demanded an instant middleweight title shot.