UFC light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira issued a chilling stare towards a Russian reporter during UFC 313’s pre-fight press conference on Friday.
Pereira, 37, will take on Russian fighter Magomed Ankalaev in the main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 9.
The Brazilian, who boasts a professional MMA record of 12 wins and two losses, is not one to trash talk ahead of bouts and takes a more composed approach - usually letting his fists do the talking in the octagon.
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During a press conference on Friday, one reporter poked fun at Pereira with his question to Anklaev, 32.
“If you absolutely dominate Alex in this fight, do you think you'll send him back working in the tyre shop?” asked the reporter.
Ankalaev saw the funny side and began to chuckle at the remark, however, Pereira sat forward, clenched his fists, and stared the reporter down in a menacing manner.
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“We're planning to absolutely dominate him on Saturday; we're going to make sure that Chama has no chances on Saturday,” Ankalaev replied.
“Whether or not he stays in the sport or decides to go back to the tyre shop, that's going to be up to him, he's going to have to make his decision.
“The same people that are saying 'Chama' now are going to be saying 'no Chama'. It's Ankalaev time.”
Before Pereira found MMA, he worked at a tyre shop earning just 68p per day, having left school at just 12 years old.
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He worked near a bar, which led to an alcohol addiction where he often drank cachaca – Brazil’s most popular spirit.
“But starting at 12, I began living an adult life,” Pereira told Players’ Tribune in February.
“I became a worker. I needed to. Our town was not very wealthy, it is a humble place, and my mom and dad didn’t have much money.”
“On days when I didn’t have a bike, it’d be a 40-minute walk,” he added.
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“There would already be trucks waiting when I arrived.”
“At first, I liked cachaça best, so I started drinking a little bit of that on work days,” explained the Brazilian.
“Then, from there, it’s a bit of a blur how it got to be more and more over my teenage years. It was the routine, the environment, I guess you could say.
“By the time I was 16, it had gotten pretty bad. I remember, usually, when I would calibrate a tire, the person would give me a tip.
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"But sometimes people would not give one, and instead they would say “I left you a drink at the bar.” And so … what can you do, right? I would go and drink the drink.”
Now, over two decades on, that chapter of Pereira’s life is behind him, and he has since become one of the most feared fighters in the UFC.
Luke Davies