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Brett Ocomoto
LAS Vegas- George Guimars knew when former UFC middleweight and then light heavyweight champion Alex Perera In fact Complained The way he felt before protecting his title Magomed Anklev UFC 313 in March. Perera’s manager, Guimres, are with them for countless quarrels and know that it is not uncommon – in fact – to work with some kind of injury for Perera. Injuries are normal, but Perera is having a nuisance about them.
“He never complains, except when he is losing weight,” Guimars told ESPN this week. “Weight cut is an exception, but in addition, this man is bulletproof. Everyone knows that the previous one, however, he was complaining how he feels.”
Perera (12–3) surrendered the light heavyweight championship for Anklev (21-1-1) unanimously in an attempt, several observers saw one of their worst in the UFC. Former two-wisdom champions in Kickboxing and MMA will avenge the loss on Saturday when he meets Anklev In an immediate rematch Las Vegas (ESPN PPV, ET) at UFC 320. This will be the first time since 2023 that Perera betting is underdog (+210 by ESPN Bet,
Shortly after Perera’s loss in March, the UFC commentator Joe Rogan stated that he had heard that the “Point” competition went up to less than 100%. Since time, Perera has admitted that he was probably only “40%”“For that fight, for his general himself. His physicist, according to Kayu Youb, Perera was working with other things, a stress fracture in his tibia. He also became ill in Australia and was kept on antibiotics less than two weeks before the fight.
“When we were in Australia, I said to him, ‘Hey, man, you are overtrening and your immunity is very rare,” Yub told ESPN through a interpreter. “And then, of course, he became very ill. He fought many times. It was a serious lack of rest. Yes, he fought many times.”
Even if Perera had somehow found a way to defeat Anklev in his first meeting, his team agreed that he was probably leading to a loss at some time. The 38 -year -old was crowned a fighter of the year in 2024 after appearing in three title defense in 2024, including two short notices. He headline Marki cards in UFC 300 in April 2024 and after less than two months UFC 303, despite a broken to -finger, and maintained a nonstop travel journey, extended in 2025, with a month before the battle of his title against Anklev in Australia.
If any human was designed for that level of activity, it is Perera. He was well air-conditioned for a rigid fighter sports program by his nine-year career in professional kickboxing, during which he made four quarrels a year to make 33–7 records. But Perera is still human, despite some of his supernatural tricks. His body was undue breaking in March, when he dropped the scorecard of judges of 49–46, 48–47 and 48–47 to Anklev. Although Perera has publicly ensured full credit to Anklev for the result, there is no doubt that Perera and his team believe that injuries and his schedule were caught with him in the UFC 313.
Perera told ESPN through an interpreter, “As soon as I stepped out of Ashtakona that night, I knew what I had to do.” “Honestly, there is not much to change. I just need to fix my body and take care of myself. … I have always been a nonstop. Ever since I was younger, I have never been unemployed, I need to be active. I needed to be active. It had a cumulative effect. A lot of things were added, and I started aging. Perhaps between these seven months, I could have been seven months between these seven months.
Immediately after the loss, Perera finally took his necessary rest. He met his parents in Brazil, but the schedule of his journey slowed down. Yub went with her everywhere – and, perhaps surprisingly, Yub did not need to tell her to take her easy. Essentially after two years of pushing any resistance from your body, Perera gave himself time to fix.
“Alex is not the man who does everything corrects,” Yab said. “He has a different way to do things, and it’s not by the book. He doesn’t take a nap in the afternoon when we like it. He does not complement his nutrition. He does not always eats as an athlete.
“But, in fact, after the last battle, I did not need to talk much. He knew. When we started working, everything was very gradual. The beginning was very complicated, because all the injuries in his last battle were increased. … There was a lot of pain. He was not able to train. But in the last two months, he was recovered.”
Perera puts an entire, uninterrupted camp in Denbury, Connecticut, where he takes training with the former UFC champion Glover TexiraHis participation in a film shoot in Uruguay may have increased eyebrows in August, but his head coach, Plainio cruiseSaid that Perera was there a few days before the camp started.
“I took him to Japan this year, because I was training a heavy weight there,” Kruz said. “He went to Brazil and Uruguay, but it was all before the camp. You are not looking at them on all these trips, as it was with the previous one. It’s a different landscape from which we are fighting now. It was a slow time. We stayed at home and we stayed in the gym.”
It is slightly clinch and, clearly, no one will expect a former champion camp in circumstances, but in March, Perera’s loss can be the best version of Perera that we have seen over the years.
The idea of Perera’s idea of going into a fight was injured, which stopped Guimrass a long time ago, as it is basically the case. The last time it was asked to remember that Perera went completely healthy in a battle, Guimrass could not answer. The broken toe had overcabed last year, which he had to face just two weeks before knocking out Jamal Hill UFC 300 and reinforced against it Jia prochzka In the UFC 303, there was just the latest example in a long career of injuries. When he fought with former champion John Blackoviz In 2023, he had secretly a significant knee injury and the rib was disliked.
But March? This was the first and only time when Perera had ever complained about her diseases. Clich or not, it means something. And it is likely why Perera and his team is going into the UFC 320, despite the fact that he is coming from a loss and facing the longest betting barriers of his UFC career.
Asked at the UFC’s performance institute on Monday, whether he knows anything that the world does not know about going to this matchup, Cruz broke into a smile, as he spoke.
“I think it’s great about this, brother.”
