UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira continued his reign over the 205lb division this past Saturday at UFC 303, brutally knocking out Jiri Prochazka in the second round of their main event rematch.
Alex Pereira is quickly becoming one of the UFC’s biggest stars, and his incredible head-kick knockout over Jiri Prochazka this past weekend at UFC 303 has accelerated that matter.
The Brazilian has now headlined the promotion’s two biggest PPVs of the year in UFC 300 and UFC 303, with them both coming in the top four for highest gates in the promotion’s history.
Alex Pereira rewarded staggering $303,000 bonus following knockout win
At the UFC’s milestone 300 event this past April, CEO, Dana White, upped the stakes by increasing the post-fight bonuses from $50,000 to $300,000, to mark the occasion.
Featherweight contender, Brian Ortega, attempted to get the bonuses raised from $50,000 to $303,000 for this event at the pre-fight press conference, but White said instead he would hand out an extra $50,000 for a second Fight of the Night award.
Despite that, Alex Pereira’s coach, Plinio Cruz, revealed this past Monday that ‘Poatan’ was in fact awarded a staggering $303,000 post-fight bonus for his sensational second-round knockout.
“Yes he did (get a $303,000 bonus from the UFC),” Cruz told The MMA Hour.
“Because you know, he was talking to Dana in the back and they were talking about a bunch of stuff and Dana said ‘A matter of fact, you won performance of the night’ and (Pereira) said, ‘$303,000?’ and (Dana) said, ‘No, $50,000’,” Cruz continued.
The Brazilian coach went on to explain why he thinks Dana White decided to award ‘Poatan’ with the bigger bonus, relating it back to this past April.
“The reality of the fact is they gave $300,000 bonuses at (UFC 300) and (Pereira) did not get performance of the night, they gave two for Max (Holloway) so he was a little bit salty about that and I think because of all the history and taking the fight on two weeks (notice) Dana looked at him and said, ‘You know what man, I’m going to take care of you, you got a $303,000 (bonus)’,” Cruz revealed.
The 36-year-old is planning on buying a Cyber Truck with his additional bonus, claiming that he already has too many supercars.
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Pereira’s coach details interaction with Jamahal Hill
Ahead of Pereira’s title defense this past Saturday, former foe, Jamahal Hill, sent him a warning message as he continues to attempt to set up a rematch with the Brazilian.
Despite that, footage emerged a few days before UFC 303 of Hill and Pereira interacting at the UFC Performance Institute, in which ‘Sweetdreams’ came across as respectful.
“They just shook hands and left. I’m surprised Hill was that friendly after saying all this crap that he’s been saying but at this point, we just don’t take anything personally, we just mind our business and do our thing and being positive,” Plinio Cruz stated.
Although Hill has been campaigning for a rematch of their UFC 300 main event, he likely needs a bounce-back win before he is considered for another title fight. With that, Cruz isn’t interested in Pereira fighting the 33-year-old again.
“I’m going to be honest, me personally, no (I’m not interested), but like I say, if he can win and get that far again then we get there. I think we’ve got different horizons to pursue right now,” the coach admitted.
‘Poatan’ is flirting with the idea of moving up to heavyweight to try and make UFC history by becoming the first fighter to win a title in three separate weight classes, however, his next move for now, is undecided.
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