Exclusive/ 'When your boss is offering you a promotion you say yes': UFC fighter Alex Perez on quick turnaround

This week at the UFC Fight Night, veteran MMA professional Alex Perez will take on Matheus Nicolau. The flyweight encounter would headline the card, and the winner of the bout will likely enter the championship scenario again. The fight will take place at the UFC Alex facility in Nevada. 

Initially, the card was supposed to be headlined by Manel Kape and Nicolau but in the run-up to the fight night, Kape sustained an injury and in came Perez in the picture to save the card. It is a quick turnaround for Perez as he had graced the Octagon once earlier in the month. Perez fought Muhammad Mokaev on April 2, 2024, in a contest that went down to the wire. 

Ahead of his fight against Nicolau, republicworld.com caught with Perez. The Flyweight fighter addressed every query posed in front of him and was quite expressive with his thoughts.

Here are the responses to the questions that UFC asked on Republic's behalf.

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Q This is going to be your second fight. Quick turnaround. Kudos for accepting the fight, saving the card. Do you think it’s a risk? 

Everything we do in life is a risk so you just take it as you come. When an opportunity comes up you can't pass it away. I explain to people all the time when your boss is offering you a promotion. What do you say, yes or no? Most of the time you say yes so I'm excited. 

Q What do you take back from your fight with Mokaev?

 I can still compete with the best. You know he's the number one prospect in my weight class so I want to fight him. I thought I won the fight last time, obviously the judges didn't and that's all that matters but I was hanging in there with one of the best guys.

Q How eager does this make you, how motivated does this make you?

I'll be motivated no matter what. Whether it’s a main event, whether it’s a regular fight, whether I'm on a 10-fight win streak, the motivation doesn't stop. This is what I do for a living, this is how I support my family, my son and the motivation never changes. The goals have always been the same. I know I'm on a little skid right now but I feel like the guys I've faced, Davidson, Pantoja and Mokaev are three of the best guys in the division. Not like I lost to someone who is barely in the sport coming up, which is a debut I think. I am fighting the best guys in the world.

Q A week after your fight, the Flyweight Championship would be on the line so who do you think is going to win since you know these guys?

 Honestly, I think it's a hard one to call. I gotta go with Pantoja, the experience, he's been in some wars and obviously he has a great chin, he's been hit. But Steve’s no slouch. He came in and fought a ring guy right off the back and I mean he's been on a tear, he knocked out Matt Schnell that's a common opponent they both have but I got to go with the experience with Pantoja he's a dog in there. I'm not saying Steve isn't we just haven't seen enough of him. 

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Q What do you think of your opponent Matheus? 

He's tough. He's a really good guy. We know each other. He's a really good guy, we've met a few times, he's been over to my house cause his old training partner lives with me now so he's a good guy, tough, comes from a great camp, ____ love that camp forever. They have a great style, great tradition ____ does a great job with these guys, he's never out of the fight game. You see coaches come in and out but he's been on top of the fight game for a long and were expecting him to be ready and do their homework. Theirs a reason why they accepted the fight so my job is to make sure they made a bad choice.

Q Can you briefly explain that a little bit. If you've got a friendship with somebody how do you put that aside and come stand in the Octagon and go toe to toe?

It’s just competition you know. Every fight I go into, I tell people I love the competition part. I'm a wrestler at heart and it's always me versus somebody else. I've had it rough with some of my best friends and I’ve tried to suplex them in some of the matches so it's not that hard for me to go from someone I know to punch them in the face. Not too much difference, it doesn’t seem good that it has to be someone I know but at the same time we're both reaching for the same goal so it doesn't make too much of a difference. 

Q A couple quick questions on some pretty amazing things happening in the MMA space right now of course we just got finished with the historic UFC 300, there's a hangover from that and there's now this big focus on the BMF belt so what did you think of Max Holloways fight over Gaethje?

 I mean he's a stud. That guy is a legend of the sport, he's been in this game for a very long time and I was very happy for him. Gaethje and Max are both fan favourites, a great fight and a great way to entertain the fans at UFC 300.

Q What do you think of Conor McGregor’s return?

It's great for the sport. He's changed the sport in so many different ways. In and outside giving guys opportunities outside to make obviously their own companies, he's definitely paved the way for business in this sport. Him being in sport is always great, it brings a lot of eyes and attention to the sport and the sport is growing every day so it's always good to get more eyes, new eyes, as many eyes as possible, it just helps us out at the end of the day.

*Watch UFC Fight Night: Matheus Nicolau vs. Alex Perez on 28th April 2024 from 4:30 AM IST onwards LIVE on Sony Sports Ten 2 SD & HD, Sony Sports Ten 3 SD & HD (Hindi), Sony Sports Ten 4 SD & HD (Tamil & Telugu).