Alex Pereira

Alex Pereira found a home at Glover Teixeira's gym in Connecticut, but is he ready to dethrone Israel Adesanya at UFC 281?

"I love that the gym is in a small town with lots of Brazilians," Pereira says. But in 2014, the couple opened a gym in Danbury, "and I said, 'I'm not going to do my camp anywhere else,'" he says. He met Ingrid in a gym, and after he began training in MMA, the couple moved to California, where Teixeira became a [Chuck Liddell](http://www.espn.com/mma/fighter/_/id/2335464/chuck-liddell) training partner under coach John Hackleman. "The nature here!" There's the key to the city of Danbury, which the mayor awarded to Teixeira last year "in recognition of your UFC Championship win and in appreciation of your contributions to the city." "The nature, the changes of season. Teixeira was on a four-fight winning streak and was on the cusp of a title shot even while on the wrong side of age 40. Outside the cage, a dog owned by one of the coaches lies on a bench near a window, staring outside at the entrance to the doggy day care next door. "I came here to work with the coach, Fernely Feliz," says Reyes, who has been trying to find his way out of a three-fight losing streak. In the case of Pereira, who, like Teixeira, is a native of Brazil, the kinship inside the gym is literal. Pereira was a kickboxing world champion at the time, the middleweight titlist in Glory, the sport's most prominent fight organization. The sense of purpose is what one would expect from a man preparing for the biggest fight of his life on the biggest stage.