What Do Alex Pereira’s Tattoos Mean? Story Behind the UFC Champ’s Popular Inks

In the modern world, tattoos have emerged as a form of self-expression. While there are many who get inked just to make a fashion statement, a number of others use them symbolically. Fighters are a breed who endure insane amounts of pain and go through grueling routines to make themselves noteworthy. Hence, tattoos on fighters often symbolize the stories of their unrevealed pain, and the stories we’ll try to unfold today will be of Alex Pereira.

The famed UFC light heavyweight champ, Alex Pereira, will defend his belt for a staggering third time in 2024, and this time, it’s another new contender, Khalil Rountree Jr. The 205-pound duo will clash at UFC 307, in the bright lights of the main event. Meanwhile, looking at how big of a superstar Pereira has become in just three years of association with Dana White’s promotion, he also boasts a number of instantly recognizable tattoos. Although most UFC fans might have noticed them, there won’t be many who know their significance.

How many tattoos does Alex Pereira have?

While most UFC fans would know that Pereira has tattoos, owing to how there are quite a few of them on his body, it’s hard to come up with an exact number.

Notably, Alex Pereira has about 10 tattoos on his entire body. However, some of them are of greater significance to ‘Poatan’ than others.

Alex Pereira’s dragons and koi fish tattoos

There are multiple dragons inked on Pereira’s body. Although he got his first dragon because he thought it was cool and not really because it meant anything to him, the two other dragon tattoos he got are ones that he really loves. In contrast to the three dragons, the fighter only has one koi fish tattoo. This one was probably from the time when Pereira fought as a kickboxer under ‘Glory’ in China.

Although Pereira didn’t know about this when he got the koi tattoo, he later learned about the legend of a ‘koi’ fish evolving into a powerful dragon after swimming to the top of a mountain. Pereira finds this to be an inspiring legend.

The ‘Kickboxing’ Tattoo

This ink on Pereira’s body doesn’t leave much for the fans to imagine. Most kickboxing and UFC fans are aware of Poatan’s commendable prowess in the kickboxing ring. Till his transit to the UFC, Pereira boasted a remarkable 33-7 record in professional kickboxing as well.

A large chunk of fans also might know about Pereira’s troubled times and alcoholism issues before he started kickboxing. Quite understandably, it was Pereira’s love for the sport that propelled him to make it a part of himself forever.

The ‘Alessandro’ and ‘Lohan’ tattoos

Becoming a father is obviously one of the most treasured moments of a man’s life. Pereira has experienced this two times. Most UFC fans already know that he currently has two sons named Alessandro Vidal Silva and Lohan Vidal Silva.

His son Alessandro, stayed in the headlines after the former 2-time UFC Middleweight champ, Israel Adesanya mocked him after knocking out Pereira at UFC 287.

‘The 36-year-old Brazilian’ decided to carry the names of his sons on his body. Pereira has beautiful letterings of ‘Alessandro’ and ‘Lohan’ on each of his arms. He also once stated that they provide him with a lot of motivation to keep going when times are tough.

 The UFC belt tattoo

Almost every UFC fan is aware of the infamous beef between  Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira. After defeating ‘Izzy’ two times in kickboxing, fans also witnessed him making his way into the UFC to continue the rivalry. ‘Poatan’ also got the better of his coveted rival, Adesanya, when they first met inside the UFC octagon at UFC 281.

Following his win over his most notable rival, Alex Pereira would spare no time to make this moment an even more memorable one by inking a couple of championship tattoos on both of his biceps. However, he would end up losing the 185-pound belt at UFC 287 before making his way to Jon Jones‘s previous territory, the light heavyweight division.

People thought UFC 303 was a big challenge for Alex Pereira, given that he was stepping in on short notice against Jiri Prochazka, but that turned out to be pretty easy. However, UFC 307 is fair game for him and Khalil Rountree Jr. Can he replicate his previous success? We’ll have to wait and see.

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