Before he was a two-division UFC champion, Alex Pereira worked at a tire shop in Brazil.
Magomed Ankalaev was so confident that he would defeat Pereira in their UFC 320 rematch, having previously outpointed
“Poatan” at UFC 313 back in March, that “Big Ank” promised to end the Brazilian’s career and send him back to a life of rubber and rims.
“You’re gonna be sleeping and on your way working at the tire shop again,“ Ankalaev wrote on social media ahead of UFC 320.
Not quite.
Pereira stopped Ankalaev in the opening frame of last weekend’s headliner and celebrated his revenge with a trip to his old tire shop.
Pereira told Ankalaev he was never going back to that life during their pre-fight staredown.
“I was putting a little responsibility on myself to remember that, because I’ve already said it a few times before when people asked me how I managed to become the person I am today,” Pereira explained at the UFC 320 post-fight press conference. “I said, ‘I didn’t have a Plan B. I had to fight.’ And I said I didn’t want to go back to the tire shop. So, I repeated that exact phrase to him to remind myself I didn’t want to go back to the tire shop. But I am going to Brazil, and I am going to go back to the tire shop — with this belt here.”
Mission accomplished.