Alex Pereira earned himself a little something extra with his win at UFC 303.
This was revealed by Pereira's longtime coach Plinio Cruz on Monday. MMA Hour UFC CEO Dana White paid Pereira a $303,000 post-fight bonus following his successful light heavyweight title defense at UFC 303. Pereira took the fight just two weeks ago after original mainstay Conor McGregor withdrew with injury, knocking out Jiri Prochazka in the second round with a vicious head kick.
“He was backstage talking to Dana and they were talking about this and that, and Dana said, 'Actually, you won Performance of the Night,' and he said, '$303,000?' And he said, 'No, no, no, it's $50,000,'” Cruise explained on Monday. MMA Hour.
“But that wasn't the case. They gave him a $300,000 bonus. [UFC] 300 and [Pereira] No Performance of the Night award. Max won two awards. [Holloway]So he was a little upset, I think because of what they've been through and the game coming up in two weeks.” [notice]Dana looked at him and said, “Look, you know what? I'll take care of you. You've got $303,000.” He jokingly told him to buy a supercar with the money. [Pereira] “'I've had enough supercars,' he says. He wants a Cybertruck.”
Pereira, 36, saved UFC twice in the space of three months, defeating Jamahal Hill in the hastily arranged main event of UFC 300 on April 13 and saving the promotion's well-publicized efforts to find a suitable headliner for UFC's 300th anniversary card.
But if the saga of UFC 300 was already something of a rollercoaster, UFC 303 could have been more like Formula Rossa.
According to Cruz, Pereira was still in negotiations for a rematch with Prochazka at UFC 305 on Aug. 17 when promotion officials first approached his team about the possibility of replacing McGregor. Cruz admitted he was initially against the idea and told Pereira as much, but “Poitan” was ready to go right away. By the next morning, all the details were arranged and the impromptu title rematch was officially announced.
Pereira beat Prochazka by second-round TKO in November 2023 to win the vacant light heavyweight belt, and Cruz said he expected the second bout to be longer, which might have been the case had he not studied film at the last moment.
“Alex is a much better stand-up fighter than Prochazka, so we wanted to be patient,” Cruz said. “I told him, 'Let's take it slow the first two rounds, let's keep the pace,' because the longer the fight goes on, Jiri's level of discipline drops a little bit and he tends to start attacking, taking more risks and taking chances.
“And our game [plan] Until game night basically goes there. [out] “I fought the first two rounds and picked up the pace as the match went on, especially with Prochazka wanting to compete in a grappling match. It was the second week of camp and I knew no one could hang in there for five rounds, so the longer the match went on the more it favored Alex. And then that happened in the locker room.”
As Cruz recounted, what happened in the locker room has already become a part of Pereira's legend.
Both Pereira and Cruz revealed after the fight that they were scrolling through Instagram in the pre-fight locker room when they noticed an opportunity for a fight-ending head kick. UFC's social media team posted videos of both fighters warming up, and Pereira's team immediately noticed a hole in Prochazka's strategy. According to Cruz, the adjustment was made within 20 minutes of Pereira's exit. In the end, the champion's pre-fight audible worked perfectly.
The footage from Prochaska's locker room was a stark contrast to the atmosphere portrayed by Pereira's team, which was shown on video of Pereira and his team casually line dancing.
Cruz suspects Pereira's casual yet incredibly focused demeanor throughout fight week may have troubled Prochazka, especially since Prochazka had accused Pereira of practicing “black magic” before their first bout at UFC 295.
“The dance was a magic ritual. He was doing magic right before the match,” Cruz said with a laugh. “I think he was kind of crazy, you know? Alex has an Indigenous background from his parents. He likes to honor that and I really respect that he honors the culture of his people and I help him do that. I'm a big fan of his.”
“I think that somehow Jiri is wrong when he calls Indigenous things witchcraft and stuff like that. But it worked in our favor. It helped him.”
Pereira is currently 8-1 under the UFC banner, with six of his wins coming against current or former champions. He is just the ninth UFC fighter to hold belts in two weight classes, and there are ongoing rumors that he may one day move up to heavyweight to make history as the first three-division champion in UFC history.
It's been a whirlwind ride, but Cruz has been a sidecar through it all, and the veteran coach is past the point of doubting whether Pereira can achieve anything he sets his mind to.
“[Pereira] I actually have a very special vision. [when it comes to] Timing, distance, angle, etc. [approaches his craft]”He seems to have his own unique fighting style. He combines boxing and kickboxing. [everything] His vision is light years ahead of his time. [for] game.”
