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Alex Pereira shocked the UFC world when he unseated middleweight champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 281.
Pereira was in just fourth fight in the promotion. While Adesanya was in his 14th and had previously defended his middleweight crown six times successfully.
But the 35-year-old Brazilian, who had previously defeated Adesanya in kickboxing, did not care. Despite trailing on the scorecards late in the fight, Pereira scored a fifth-round TKO to become the new middleweight king.
Adesanya appeared to take the loss pretty hard. But he’ll get his shot at revenge.
The two are set to square off again at UFC 287 on April 8 in Miami.
Both are well into their training camps for the fight. Which, for Pereira, means maintaining a healthy weight. Pereira is one of the division’s largest fighters and reportedly cuts nearly 50 pounds to make the 185-pound limit.
That process begins weeks, if not months out by altering his diet. By the week of the fight, it ends by Pereira limiting his water intake and trying to sweat out as much water weight as possible.
But we’re still weeks out from that part of the process.
So when popular MMA Twitter account @SpinninBackfist posted a picture from Pereira’s Instagram of him in a personal sauna with the caption “Alex Pereira is really heavy cutting weight three weeks before the fight,” fans got a little carried away.
There’s just one problem. Pereira wasn’t cutting weight in the picture. Saunas are used in recovery for a number health reasons. While he may be acclimating to the heat, Pereira is undoubtedly not cutting water weight three weeks out from a fight.
To do so would be nearly impossible and a fighter likely wouldn’t make it fight week by dehydrating himself this far out. Some more informed fans quickly called out the post.
So everybody can chill out now. Because no, Alex Pereira is not cutting water weight three weeks out from his title fight with Israel Adesanya.