Outside Source
In June, “Poatan” posted on social media that he was not pleased with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and that he was considering retirement. The Brazilian backtracked shortly thereafter, claiming another person had hacked into his account to make the questionable, since-deleted post.
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On Wednesday, the former two-division champ admitted that his previous statement of his account being hacked was hogwash. Appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show, while being translated by coach Plinio Cruz, Pereira owned up to his false statement from a few months ago. His “thoughts of not fighting anymore” were his own, before everything was cleared up with the organization and his team.
“A little bit was miscommunication,” Cruz said for Pereira, as transcribed by MMA Fighting on Wednesday. “Because Alex found out through social media and stuff like that…so he was upset, that’s why he [made the post] but he regretted it. He was wrong because he didn’t know talks that were going on, things that were going on. So it was kind of a miscommunication between camp, manager and the UFC. Not the UFC’s fault.”
Everything Good to Go for “Poatan”
Pereira, speaking through Cruz, did admit he jumped the gun when he posted his dissatisfaction with the company and his job. The fighter suggested that he did not speak to his manager or UFC brass before making a public statement, which was in regards to the debunked rumors that Magomed Ankalaev would take on Jiri Prochazka rather than rematch “Poatan.”
Those rumors proved to be folly, as the Brazilian will serve in the headliner of UFC 320 on Oct. 4, where he will once again do battle with the man that claimed the light heavyweight throne from him. This delay that came from the drama regarding the next 205-pound title shot allowed Pereira to take some time to recover, slowing down his active schedule that plugged him into 11 UFC outings in less than four years on the roster.
“Honestly, after the fight, it was expressed to the UFC that Alex had to heal a few injuries, take some time,” Pereira stated through translation. “He fought back-to-back multiple times last year. He needed a little break. It was promised for him that he would be the next title challenger. The whole thing with Ankalaev saying he didn’t want to take the fight, Alex knew that he was going to fight regardless, August or October.
“Compared to other people, he actually did the normal thing. Some people take a year, some people take two years. But I think people got used to him fighting so frequently that it feels like a long time. But this is a normal span for a guy this level to be fighting every few months like that. But it was very good for him to take his time and recharge,” he concluded.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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