Who Is Alex Pereira’s Coach? Where Does the UFC Champ Train?

Alex Pereira may be a knockout machine, but what he’s achieved in the UFC in just over a 3-year period has been a unique accomplishment in Dana White’s promotion. Having won two divisional titles in just seven fights, fans can only wonder about the people behind ‘Poatan’s success. Well, lucky for you, we are going to look into that aspect of Pereira’s fighting background in this article.

Having defended his belt twice this year already, Alex Pereira is gearing up for his third one against Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307. But before we get to this weekend, let’s take a closer look at his coaching team.

Meet Plinio Cruz and Glover Teixeira, Alex Pereira’s coaches

Since the beginning of his MMA venture, Alex Pereira has been training under the tutelage of a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master who’s also a specialist in Muay Thai, Plinio Cruz. ‘Poatan’s BJJ coach is nothing short of a brilliant martial artist who has a black belt in Judo as well as Jiu-Jitsu. Cruz was also a professional fighter, having competed in promotions like Bellator and M-1.

Pereira received his Jiu-Jitsu brown belt from Cruz right after he beat his nemesis, Israel Adesanya. If Adesanya is Superman, Alex Pereira is Lex Luthor. He’s managed to take down ‘Izzy’ in kickboxing and then snatched his title away from him in the UFC as well.

All this while Cruz sat in his corner cheering and guiding him! However, Cruz himself hasn’t fought in the cage since 2019. Back then, Alex Pereira’s BJJ coach faced Douglas Humberto Queiroz Silva as his opponent and yielded. Since then, he has made no other commitments than coaching.

Cruz’s MMA record stands at an interesting 8-9. Apart from Cruz, ‘Poatan’ is also coached by the former UFC light-heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira. Teixeira and Pereira share a very close bond, which is often reflected in pranks and interesting conversations on his social media. In terms of his professional career, Teixeira last fought in January 2023 and lost his 205-pound title to Jamahal Hill and right after the fight, he announced his retirement.

All we know about Alex Pereira’s gym

Alex Pereira trains with Glover Teixeira at the latter’s gym in Connecticut. The coach has been around for Pereira for his matches just like Cruz cornering him from outside the cage. Perhaps it’s no wonder that both the fighters have struck gold with the UFC.

However, both of them eventually lost their titles down the line. That doesn’t mean it won’t come back for Pereira. While Teixeira has retired, he still relentlessly coaches the Brazilian along with Cruz. Now, ‘Poatan’ is all set to take on Jamahal Hill at UFC 300. Hill has previously defeated Teixeira, so will this be an act of payback by Pereira? Only one way to find out.

Besides having top-class coaches, did you know that Alex Pereira also has some of the best MMA fighters in the world today as his training partners? Yes, he does, and one of them even includes a former rival as well.

Sean Strickland, Tai Tuvasa, and more – Alex Pereira’s training partners

Alex Pereira has an ungodly amount of power in his ‘Hands of Stone’. Former middleweight champion Sean Strickland got the taste of it when he got knocked out by the Brazilian star at UFC 276. In the aftermath of that clash, ‘Tarzan’ and ‘Poatan’ developed one of the unlikeliest of bonds, becoming training partners, and they even trained ahead of Pereira’s UFC 307 clash. The light heavyweight champ seems to have an affinity towards training with his former rivals, which was apparent when he started training with Yousri Belgaroui, whom he fought three times in Glory and Belgaroui is one of the few fighters who’ve defeated ‘Poatan’.

Then again, Alex Pereira recently mentioned wanting to move to heavyweight, and he already showed signs that maybe he could fit well in that division when he sparred with Tai Tuivasa. ‘Bam Bam’ didn’t know what to expect from the explosive Brazilian, but he got the same taste as Sean Strickland, recognizing the fact that Pereira was indeed the real deal. “His power, you know, I fight in heavyweight so we can take a punch or two. But it was more… I hadn’t been training. I want in and I was f***ing running out of breath and getting the sh*t punched out of me,” Tuivasa stated in a recent interview.

Well, having top-class coaches and sparring partners may be enough for most fans to feel like UFC 307 is Alex Pereira’s for the taking. But what do you predict for his fight against Khalil Rountree Jr.? Drop your comments below.