In 2013, Alex Pereira attended a UFC event in São Paulo from the nosebleed section — sitting so high up, he says, he was "almost hitting my head on the ceiling." On June 14, 2026, he headlines the UFC Freedom 250 event on the lawn of the White House.
That moment came up during a wide-ranging conversation on The Ariel Helwani Show, where Pereira sat down for one of the most personal interviews of his career — touching on poverty, family, charity, and a decade-long journey from a tire shop in Brazil to one of the biggest events in combat sports history.
Thirteen years later — 2013, you're up there trying not to bang your head on the ceiling, and now you're headlining the White House. It's a movie scene.
Grounded by Where He Came From
Despite his transformation into one of the UFC's biggest stars, Pereira still regularly returns to the borracharia — the tire shop in Brazil where he worked before his fighting career took hold. The visits aren't nostalgic; they're intentional.
Those guys are my friends. It keeps me grounded to see where I came from. Those guys were very important for my life. Even with what I have, they're still happy for me — and it's good for me to go there and learn more about life. It's important for me not to forget where I came from. Many people start doing well in life and just get too big for their head and disappear.
Pereira worked at the tire shop until around 2016. He said the version of himself who worked there "never imagined the White House. I didn't even imagine I'd make a living from fighting — until ten years ago, or more."
UFC Changed Everything
Pereira was honest about the financial reality of his kickboxing years. His Glory run was successful enough to buy a house for his parents and an apartment for himself — but he always knew it wasn't fully sustainable long-term.
The reality of my life really changed once I joined the UFC. Now family is set up.
That security now extends to his father. 'Poatan' recently gave him a golf cart for his gated community — a deliberate choice, as he doesn't want his father navigating public roads. The reaction caught him off guard.
My father always wanted to have a car and he could never have one. A few years ago he bought a little old car, drove a little bit, had a few scrapes — and had to sell it to buy stuff for the house. So now I gave him a nice golf cart. He cried. I had never seen my father cry before.
From the Tire Shop to the White House
Pereira described the White House booking as something that came to him — not something he lobbied for. He is aware of its magnitude.
I see how many people were trying to get on the card, everybody talking about it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — a unique event everybody wants to be part of. And I'm gifted to be part of it.
He fights Ciryl Gane in the co-main event of UFC Freedom 250 for the interim heavyweight title. A win would make him the first fighter in UFC history to hold championships in three different weight classes — capping a journey that, by any measure, nobody saw coming when he was fixing tires in São Paulo.
Pereira also founded Instituto Poatan, a free youth combat sports institute in his hometown that has enrolled more than 400 children and served over 800 since it opened — part of a giving-back philosophy rooted in his own family's experience receiving food donations during hard times. More at @institutopotan on Instagram.