UFC

New Data Reveals Alex Pereira Has Become The UFC’s Biggest Star

Garrett Kerman Sports Editor

Published09 Jul 2024

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Key Highlights:

Alex Pereira has 5 of the top 11 highest-grossing PPV events in UFC history
Pereira’s fights have averaged 15% more revenue than Conor McGregor
Pereira has also earned more average gate revenue than Jon Jones (293%) and Ronda Rousey (351%)

The UFC Light Heavyweight champion Alex Pereira’s rise to superstardom has been unlike anything we’ve ever seen in this sport. Pereira had a long career in professional kickboxing, holding multiple world titles before transitioning to MMA. His MMA career got off to a rocky start losing his professional MMA debut by a third-round submission only to have one more MMA fight before he took four years off to focus on kickboxing where he defeated former UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya a second time.

A first-round knockout under the LFA banner in 2020 got him the call-up to the big show in 2021 where he put his name on the map with a second-round flying knee knockout of Andrea Michailidis. From there Pereira just needed two more victories to get his first crack at a title, which was one of the shortest routes to a world title in UFC history, where he then knocked out Isreal Adesanya to obtain his first UFC championship at UFC 281.

November 12, 2022

UFC 281

375 days ago.

Alex Pereira KO’D his rival Israel Adesanya to become the MW champion of the world. R5, 2:01

one of the best comebacks of all time IMO pic.twitter.com/3jH4G8wmJO

— • 𝒮𝓀𝓎𝓁𝑜! (@YT_SKYLO1) November 22, 2023

From there a star was born! Even though Pereira went on to lose his title and the first time in four fights against Adesanya he still became the biggest star in the UFC. There’s a reason why Pereira is the man that the UFC calls upon when they need someone to headline a PPV event on such short notice.

Top 11 Highest-Grossing PPV Events
UFC 205	McGregor vs. Alvarez	$17,700,000
UFC 229	McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov	$17,188,895
UFC 300	Pereira vs. Hll	$16,508,823
UFC 303	Pereira vs. Prochazka 2	$15,909,243
UFC 264	McGregor vs. Poirier 3	$15,759,800
UFC 299	O’Malley vs. Vera 2	$14,142,904
UFC 295	Pereira vs. Prochazka	$12,400,000
UFC 285	Jones vs. Gane	$12,150,000
UFC 129	GSP vs. Shields	$12,075,000
UFC 287	Pereira vs. Adesanya 2	$11,943,363
UFC 281	Perera vs. Adesanya	$11,562,807

He not only headlined the UFC’s monumental UFC 300 mega-PPV on less than two month’s notice but he also stepped in on three week’s notice to headline this year’s International Fight Week where fight fans all around the world travel to and he delivered as he always does defending his UFC Light Heavyweight title for a second time in just a four-month span.

Pereira has now headlined five out of his nine UFC fights and all five of those fights are now in the top 11 grossing events in UFC history. No other fighter has put more butts in seats than Alex Pereira, not even stars like Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, or even Ronda Rousey.

	Count	Total	Average
Alex Pereira	5	68,324,236	13,664,847
Conor McGregor	8	94,841,011	11,855,126
Jon Jones	17	59,064,330	3,474,372
Ronda Rousey	6	18,184,430	3,030,738

Alex Pereira also became a two-division champion in less time than anyone else in the UFC when he captured the UFC’s Middleweight Championship and then now the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. He is also searching to become the first-ever three-division champion in the near future but for right now he’s focusing on being one of the best light heavyweights the UFC has ever seen, next to the infamous Jon “Bones” Jones of course.

However, Pereira has become a household name and one of the biggest stars in the sport of MMA in such a short amount of time. Even at age 37, don’t expect that to change anytime soon as we can expect him to headline some of the biggest PPV events for years to come.