Why Alex Pereira is the MMA fighter of 2022

This was the year of "Poatan."

No one - and I mean no one - at the beginning of 2022 thought we'd be saying those words. Alex Pereira was inexperienced, unranked, and, frankly, only relevant because of a rivalry he had in a different sport with one of the UFC's top fighters.

If it hadn't been for Pereira's two kickboxing wins over Israel Adesanya in 2016 and 2017, the UFC likely wouldn't have signed the Brazilian in the first place. After all, he had a 3-1 mixed martial arts record and competed only once in the sport since 2017. He was also 34 years old, not a young, up-and-coming prospect. He wasn't the kind of fighter the promotion is typically eager to add to its roster.

Entering 2022, even after Pereira had made his Octagon debut, his biggest claim to fame in MMA was a knockout win over Andreas Michailidis, a fighter who went 1-3 in the UFC and would go unrecognized in a room full of hardcore fans. Adesanya had laid waste to the middleweight division, so the promotion brought Pereira in to add a little intrigue. But it was wishful thinking for the UFC that he'd work his way up to a title shot, never mind do it in 12 months and actually dethrone Adesanya.

But that's exactly what he did at UFC 281.

Through four rounds, Pereira tested Adesanya in ways other challengers couldn't. His massive frame and the threat of his ferocious knockout power were advantageous, to say the least. But Adesanya was still doing Adesanya things, up three rounds to one going into the fifth and seemingly en route to another title defense and another problem solved. He looked to have erased his boogeyman.

But the boogeyman returned to haunt Adesanya with three minutes left in the fight. A hard left hook from Pereira led to a barrage of strikes that put the champ on wobbly legs. A few more punches and referee Marc Goddard had seen enough, giving Pereira the UFC middleweight championship. It came in a fashion eerily similar to Leon Edwards' all-time moment against Kamaru Usman just a few months prior.

It took Pereira a mere 371 days - and four fights - to go from UFC newcomer to champion. In modern MMA, and in as deep of a division as middleweight, that's unheard of. Holly Holm and Joanna Jedrzejczyk did it in the early days of their female divisions. Brock Lesnar, Anderson Silva, and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson did it in the 2000s. But since then? The closest thing is probably Adesanya debuting in February 2018 and winning the title in October 2019, which was also extremely impressive. But Pereira's rise is next-level absurd.

Of course, the UFC rushed Pereira up the middleweight ladder. It understandably didn't want to miss its chance with the Adesanya fight. But never once did Pereira look out of place. He handled each step up in competition with grace (or violence, whatever you want to call it). A first-round knockout of Sean Strickland in July served as Pereira's bridge between MMA prospect and contender - and the gateway to a championship rematch years in the making.

Other fighters had great 2022s. Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski put a stamp and then some on his rivalry with Max Holloway. Islam Makhachev proved what many have believed for a long time - that he's the best lightweight on the planet - by mauling Charles Oliveira. Edwards produced one of the top MMA highlights of the last decade when he knocked out Usman. And Zhang Weili dominated two former strawweight champions and reclaimed the throne following a winless 2021.

But Pereira accomplished something special. It's not unrealistic to think we may never see a rise like his again. In nine months, the former GLORY Kickboxing champion went from beating Bruno Silva in a competitive three-rounder to finishing the second-most decorated middleweight in UFC history. From Fight Night main-card opener to pay-per-view main event at Madison Square Garden. Pereira started 2022 as some guy who beat Izzy way back when. Now he's the best in the world. If that isn't a Fighter of the Year campaign, then nothing is.