Alex Pereira reveals injury from '23, now healthy and ready to fight

When Alex Pereira steps into the Octagon to defend the light heavyweight championship against Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 on October 5, it will be his third title fight in less than six months.

That pace may be baffling to most – in fact, it makes Pereira, at 37, the most active champion in UFC history – but “Poatan” told ESPN on Friday that he wants to “fight all the time” now that he's fully in He is healthy after an injury-plagued 2023.

Pereira revealed he was struggling with a knee injury sustained in training camp for his fight against former champion Jan Blachowicz in July 2023.

“The knee slipped and I had to stop training,” Pereira told ESPN through an interpreter. “As a camp we thought about calling off the fight, but we stuck it out. During training I had to stop to put the knee back in position. I didn’t know if my knee would give out or not.”

Pereira continued the fight against Blachowicz but was “very, very, very limited.” He escaped with a split decision win, but it was far from the explosive performance fans had come to expect from him.

Pereira was scheduled to undergo knee surgery in December, but the UFC offered him the opportunity to fight Jiri Prochazka for the vacant light heavyweight title in November. Pereira decided to compete again because of the knee injury and stopped Prochazka in the second round to become the fastest two-division champion in UFC history.

“When I threw elbows at Jiri, I did a front roll after the knockout,” he said. “The front roll wasn't my reason to celebrate, but rather I was afraid to post on the leg because he might have finally given up.”

The ability to become two-division champions with a bad knee made Pereira think about how devastating he would be if he were healthy.

Pereira quietly underwent surgery in December and returned to action at UFC 300 in April, when he successfully defended his title against Jamahal Hill with a first-round knockout. Pereira quickly returned to headline UFC 303 in June in a rematch with Prochazka on two weeks' notice when Conor McGregor was forced off the court with a toe injury. Pereira scored another highlight-reel knockout by finishing Prochazka with a head kick in the second round.

After the fight, Pereira said on his YouTube channel that he would take some time off and aim for a return in December. Instead, he will fight Rountree and attempt to defend the light heavyweight championship for the third time in 176 days.

“I was able to fight with such bad ailments on my leg, and now that I've had surgery and am 100 percent healthy, I want to fight all the time,” Pereira said.

Pereira is still considering a move back to middleweight to challenge 185-pound defending champion Dricus Du Plessis. He hasn't ruled out a move to heavyweight either.

When asked if he would finally take some time off after UFC 307, Pereira was noncommittal.

“Bro, I’m not going to answer that because it’s hard to say,” he said. “I don't know.”