Alex Pereira admits lying, says he wasn’t hacked
Former two-division UFC champion Alex Pereira has admitted that he was not hacked earlier this year and that his actions on social media in response to the UFC, were his own.
Pereira had teased a retirement from competition after rumors that he might be getting passed over for a light heavyweight title shot in favor of Jiri Prochazka. The tweet which has since been deleted can be seen below.
The Brazilian mixed martial artist then put out a tweet stating that he was hacked.
“I’ve received a ton of messages, getting messages from everyone, who saw a post from my Twitter,” Pereira said in Portuguese.
“I didn’t even know about it. I was hacked.
“It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything – you guys see. But I was hacked and I’ll resolve it.
“I don’t even know what’s going on. I have a great relationship with UFC. People like to do bad things. That’s that.”
In speaking with MMA reporter Ariel Helwani on Wednesday, the former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champion admitted the truth.
“A little bit was miscommunication, because Alex found out through social media and stuff like that,” Pereira’s coach and translator, Plinio Cruz, said, speaking for Pereira. “So he was upset, that’s why he sent the [Tweet] but he regretted it. He was wrong because he didn’t know talks that were going on, things that were going on. So it was kind of a miscommunication between camp, manager, and the UFC. Not the UFC’s fault.”
The conversation continued with further explanation on the situation.
“100 percent it was lack of communication,” Cruz said, speaking for Pereira. “It was a little bit impulsive from him. He acted a little early because he didn’t talk to our manager, or find out from Hunter [Campbell]. He saw the internet stuff and he felt a little bit hurt because he was promised the next title shot and he sees that, instead of just having a more mutual communication between camp, Hunter, and everything. So yes, 100 percent, it’s all straight up now.”
Alex Pereira lost the UFC light heavyweight title in March to current champion Magomed Ankalaev.
