Okay, so, let’s talk about this whole Alex Pereira and alcohol thing. It’s a bit of a story, you know? I mean, the guy’s a beast in the UFC, a real action hero, but he had this huge battle going on outside the octagon with the bottle.
I started to dig into it, just to see what was what. You know, how’d a top-tier fighter like him even get into this mess? Turns out, it started way back when he was working in some tire shop. All the guys there, they were knocking back these iced cachacas drinks all day. It’s some kind of Brazilian booze, made from sugarcane. At first, Alex, he didn’t touch the stuff. But, you know how it goes, peer pressure and all that. He eventually caved.

So, I kept digging, wanting to see how bad it actually got. And man, it got bad. This wasn’t just some casual drinking. We’re talking a full-blown addiction. He tried to quit, like, four times before he finally kicked it. Four! That’s a lot of trying and failing. It must have been hell for him.
It got me thinking, how the heck did he manage to fight professionally while dealing with this? Turns out, he was battling this demon for the first four years of his pro career. Imagine that, stepping into the ring, trying to focus, while also fighting this internal war with alcohol. Wild, right?
Then, I learned how he finally managed to get sober. It was tough, no doubt. Lots of struggle, lots of setbacks. But he did it, he really did it. And now he is sharing his story, which I think is pretty brave. He talked about it on some podcast called Nem Me Viu, I think. This was, like, right before his big UFC 303 fight. It was his way of getting his story out. This was a huge step, and it was pretty cool of him to do this before a big event.
This whole thing, it’s more than just a fighter’s story. It’s about overcoming some serious personal demons. To me, his whole journey is one of the most profound ones I have heard in the UFC. Shows you that even the toughest guys out there have their struggles, and it’s how you deal with them that really matters.