Alex Pereira is currently nursing a broken foot suffered in his recent knockout victory over Magomed Ankalaev back at UFC 320, but that doesn’t mean the UFC light heavyweight champion will be wearing a recovery boot around town.
It’s about one month since Pereira met Ankalaev in a rematch for the UFC light heavyweight title. Ankalaev had defeated Pereira via decision back at UFC 313 — which Pereira claims he was injured for — so it was important for “Poatan” to show up in the reboot and prove he’s
still the best 205-pound fighter in the world. Pereira did just that with a first-round TKO victory, but he suffered a broken foot along the way.
The injury is expected to sideline Pereira until early-mid 2026, but he’s still healthy enough to spar with the “Meta Menace.”
Pereira, who is no stranger to foot and toe injuries due to his kick-heavy fighting style, was instructed by UFC doctors to wear a boot for six more weeks, but “Poatan” isn’t listening to their advice. Instead, Pereira will do what’s best for his foot, mobility, and overall ability to get back inside the Octagon.
“The UFC doctors told me to wear the boot for another six weeks,” said Pereira during a recent interview with MMA Hoje (snippet shown above).
“Are you wearing it?” asked the host.
“No,” said Pereira while laughing. “I got some more opinions. On one hand it’s good, but on the other hand it could atrophy my foot a bit more. Make it harder to move, to move around, and so on. The pain is okay now.”
As long as Pereira is ready for a potential White House showdown with Jon Jones next June fight fans don’t really care how he heals his foot.
