5 times Alex Pereira hilariously showed absolutely zero emotion

Becoming the UFC middleweight champion at UFC 281

Alex Pereira stunned the world of combat sports when he chased Israel Adesanya to the UFC and ended his dominance at middleweight.

Adesanya made the division his own with five consecutive title defenses in three years, beating one top contender after another. Even before he got his hands on the interim belt, he defeated Anderson Silva, who is considered the greatest middleweight of all time by many. But just when it seemed like there was no beating Adesanya at 185 pounds, a Brazilian with 'stone hands' came haunting his steps.

In the main event of UFC 281 in Nov. 2022, Adesanya faced Pereira, an old nemesis from his kickboxing days, with his precious belt on the line. It took Pereira less than 10 minutes to shock a packed Madison Square Garden and become the new kingpin at middleweight.

The former Glory champion must have dropped a million jaws with his flurry of punches that stopped Adesanya, but his face was as expressionless as they come. No one could guess simply by looking at Pereira that he may achieved a long-nurtured dream at that moment.

From the moment Adesanya's body went limp to when Dana White wrapped the belt around his waist, Pereira maintained his trademark poker face throughout. Emotions were spilling over all around him. His close friend, mentor, and former UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira was overcome with joy. His team was celebrating the victory, which must have been especially sweet because of the way the story unfolded.

As a clinical striker on an undefeated reign at middleweight, the knockout loss to Pereira in kickboxing was the only black smudge on Adesanya's otherwise respectable record. He was not only knocked out cold but needed oxygen to recover as well. At some point after becoming the UFC middleweight champion, Adesanya made the mistake of dismissing Pereira in one of his interviews.

"At the end of the day, no one knows who the f*ck he is," Adesanya said to Sporting News Australia, "and he’s going to be that guy when I’m world champion. When I’m a legend, he’s going to be at some pub talking sh*t about, ‘I beat that guy one time.'"

Pereira proved him wrong.

Given the circumstances, one must assume that Pereira was the happiest of them all at the end of UFC 281. But if he was, there was no telling from his expressions.