Former UFC Champion Alex Pereira's Sister Dominant In First MMA Victory
Drew Beaupré
Aline Pereira likely made her brother Alex proud with the crisp striking she showed off to earn her first MMA victory at LFA 160.
The former GLORY kickboxer made her professional MMA debut last year at LFA 147 to considerable fanfare after the success her brother had already had in the sport, but she ended up losing a unanimous decision to former The Ultimate Fighter competitor Helen Peralta. Undeterred by that initial setback to start her MMA career, the Brazilian had considerably more success in her second fight against Chelsea Conner.
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Making use of her considerable height and reach advantage, Pereira relied heavily on her jab to keep Conner at range and set up big shots with her right hand.
“Tiny Tank” did have some success getting the Brazilian to the cage in an effort to take things to the ground, but aside from one takedown right at the end of the opening round, Pereira’s takedown defense was largely impenetrable.
Conner continued making attempts to close the distance on Pereira as the fight went on, but the gap in significant strikes only grew larger as the former kickboxer continued landing punches and chopped away at the smaller woman with low kicks.
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At several points the action was so one-sided that the LFA commentators openly questioned if any of the rounds might be scored a 10-8, but once the final scorecards were read Pereira ended up with 30-27’s across the board for a unanimous decision win.
Getting her first MMA victory is certainly promising for Pereira, who will likely take a significant amount of confidence away from her dominant performance.
Combat sports fans are already familiar with how quickly her brother Alex rose to the top of the sport after only a handful of fights, and “Poatan” is set to test himself in the UFC’s light heavyweight division for the first time when he meets Jan Błachowicz at UFC 291 next month.
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