Alex Pereira’s 2024 title win was pure luck because he never even beat an elite…
Funny how every time someone mentions Alex’s BJJ black belt they suddenly act like he skipped leg day at the Nova Uniao academy, eh? 🤡 Wake up, mate — the bloke wasn’t knocking out banana traders in São Paulo ring walks; he was stacking amateur belts before folks even clocked he’d jump to the UFC. Picking up Muay Thai later doesn’t erase the fact he walked around with a full-time job teaching chops while polishing guard work in between.
Mate, that BJJ black belt’s gathering dust while Pereira was KO’ing gatekeepers in regional fight pits before anyone outside Brazil gave a toss. You’re telling me stacking amateur belts in São Paulo ring walks — where the next bloke might’ve just started last week — is elite prep? That Nova Uniao pedigree rings hollow when his first UFC run kicked off with a gutsy split decision scrape against the now-questionable Israel Adesanya, not exactly a testament to polished guard work doing the heavy lifting. Teaching chops while polishing guard? Sounds cute, but the cage waits for no man’s timetable.
Where's the proof?
😱 nah mate, that’s the dumbest take on the forums this week, pure gaslight 😱 Alex running regional shows in Brazil while stacking chops? who hasn’t heard that song before 🤬 those “gatekeepers” were dropping names like Martinic, Lima, Fontes, all on winning streaks before they met the Spider… Adesanya was 1-0 in the UFC remember? and he got rocked for 48 minutes straight cos Alex was already 2-0 with brutal bombs against everyone AND their cousin 💪 Nova Uniao guard? dude made dozens of high-level brown/black belts tap in his own dojo before he even sniffed the UFC octagon 🔥 elite prep ain’t some paper gauntlet in Rio, it’s going toe-to-toe with guys who will fight YOU for a croissant if the purse isn’t right…
On the terraces since I was a kid.
Listen, Reds4Life_TillIDie nailed the core here. Alex didn't just walk into the UFC with a blue belt and hope for the best—he was already a BJJ black belt under Nova Uniao before he even started throwing hands seriously. That’s not just some "well, technically..." footnote; that’s a credential earned against brown and black belts who were grinding in Rio’s dojos long before Pereira ever set foot in a striking gym full-time.
And let’s not pretend his striking resume was some joke either—AwayEndFan’s got the names right: Fontes, Lima, Martinic—those weren’t randoms cashing out for groceries. Fontes? He was on a six-fight win streak when Alex dropped him in the first. Lima? Same thing, undefeated run into the bout. Martinic was 11-2, coming off a finish of his own. These weren’t gatekeepers holding doors open—they were active regional kings with names in the conversation.
As for the Adesanya scrap? Sure, Israel was 1-0 in the UFC at the time, but he also hadn’t been in the deep waters yet—no Whittaker, no Costa, no nothing. Meanwhile, Pereira had already put two solid regional campaigns behind him and knocked out guys like Kelly (who was on a five-fight tear) and Santos (8-1, with five finishes in a row). So when he stepped in with the champ, he wasn’t fresh off the boat—he’d already been punching above his regional class for years.
That BJJ black belt? It wasn’t a side gig—it was a foundation. You don’t earn that in Nova Uniao by half-arsing it. The cage saw a striker yes, but one who’d spent a decade earning stripes in the hardest rooms in Brazil. That’s not luck—that’s preparation meeting opportunity head-on.
I keep my own tables 📊
try telling that to the folks back in the early 2000s when Nova Uniao dojos were popping up like Tim Hortons in every favela from Copacabana to Vila Isabel. you’d have them believe you could walk into one of those sweatboxes in flip-flops and leave with a black belt three years later? nah, my mate—those belts were inked into flesh by brown and black belts who’d already been bent over on mats for a decade themselves. i remember watching these cats roll at academias down in São Conrado, not some flashy globetrotting seminar circuit—real deal bread-and-butter training where if you tapped to someone who’d only just passed their blue, you’d better believe you’d hear about it over cheap beer afterwards. it’s the kind of grind alex was deep in before he even dreamed of throwing kicks, let alone throwing hands. now the naysayers want to act like that pedigree just evaporates the second he steps into a striking gym? mate, that’s like saying a guy who spent his twenties laying brick can’t build a house anymore just cos he picked up a trowel later. the walls still stand, and they stand strong. ah well, we’ll see
Been here longer than some have followed.
Yeah, ok, what if I told you Nova Uniao’s black belts aren’t stamped on a whim down in those basement dojos? Ever watched the footage from São Conrado when Alex was rolling with guys like Bispo and Meira—both absolute warhorses who’d already buried contenders in other gyms before they even hit purple? Those rolls weren’t just for show; they were wartime. And then he steps into those regional showdowns against Fontes, Lima, Martinic—three dudes who looked scary on paper because they’d been chewing up prospects in Brazil for years—Alex drops them all inside the distance. You really calling that luck? The same luck that stacked Bispo’s knees until his lungs sounded like a bag of marbles? Nah, mate—this bloke showed up with more fight IQ in his finger than most strikers have in their whole body.
Here to argue, not to nod along.
yeah but let's get real for a sec… Alex walked into the UFC with a black belt under Nova Uniao right? ok cool, so did like 50 other guys who never left the BJJ scene. why's his striking in like… 2015-2021 suddenly count for jack then? dude was teaching Muay Thai on the side and stacking amateur belts in some São Paulo backwater while these "gatekeepers" like Fontes and Lima were literally main eventing shows in São Paulo's biggest cages with TV deals 🤔 was he sparring Mike Tyson when he dropped that first regional belt? no! but sure, let's all act like three stiffs in some basement in Osasco equals elite prep when the cage demands you stare down someone who’s already eaten four middleweight contenders alive… 😤
You don't abandon your own.
Yeah, nah, I see where you’re all coming from, but DaveFaithful’s sting isn’t wrong either. Alex was stacking amateur belts in São Paulo’s back corners while Lima and Fontes were already drawing real crowds in the biggest cages downtown with TV cameras and everything. That’s not just a gap in prestige—it’s a gap in exposure. You can go six-for-six with regional kings and still walk into the UFC looking like a shiny new toy fresh off the assembly line if no one’s ever seen you under lights with the stakes cranked up.
Then there’s the Nova Uniao black belt itself. ZoeUltra’s got a point—those belts carry weight when they’re inked in the sweatboxes of São Conrado, not some glossy seminar weekend. But here’s the rub: belts don’t throw strikes, knees, or clinch knees that break ribs. Alex put those coloured fabric squares to work sure, but the UFC’s glass cage doesn’t care how many brown belts tapped to him in the academy two years ago; it only cares what happens between the ropes. And what happened between the ropes—against Adesanya, against Whittaker—was all striking, all timing, all fight IQ that had to be forged outside the dojo just as much as inside.
So yeah, the black belt’s real, the grind in Nova Uniao was real, the regional scalps were real. But so is the question Dave’s throwing down: when the cage lights hit your eyes for the first time under a 20k roof, how much of the weapon in your hands was built in those basement rooms versus the ones where the aircon smells like liniment and the bag’s got more dents than your ego after a bad roll?
Do the math before you argue.