The Brazilian mixed martial arts fighter Alex Pereira, one of the headliners of a high-profile UFC cage event tied to United States President Donald Trump's eightieth birthday, is facing abuse allegations from two women. It is not the first time the fighter has been confronted with accusations of this kind.
One of the women is Merle Christina, a German mixed martial arts presenter who was in a relationship with Pereira for roughly a year before the couple broke up in December of 2023. She has gone to court seeking a restraining order against him.
Pereira's lawyers did not respond to questions about the case. In a deposition given in January, the fighter denied using AirTags to track Christina and denied ever forcing her to have sex, though he did admit to secretly recording some of their arguments.
A second woman, twenty-three-year-old Meredith Brown, alleges that Pereira sexually assaulted her in a hotel in New Jersey. Her account adds to the accusations now surrounding the fighter as the matter draws wider attention.
In the January deposition, Pereira acknowledged that he had given a statement to police about Brown's allegation, and he maintained that the encounter had been consensual. He has disputed the characterisation of what took place.
Asked during the same deposition whether he had ever been arrested for domestic violence, Pereira acknowledged that about fourteen years ago he had been jailed for eighteen days in Brazil following an incident with his then-wife, an episode he described as a misunderstanding. The UFC, whose code of conduct allows it to sanction fighters involved in domestic violence or sexual misconduct, did not respond to questions about the case.
The allegations have emerged at a moment of unusual visibility for Pereira, who is preparing to headline the UFC card staged around President Trump's eightieth birthday. The fighter is widely known for his knockout power inside the cage.
Interest in the event and in the man at its centre extends well beyond the United States, with a large mixed martial arts audience following the developments, including many viewers in Canada. The legal proceedings against the fighter remain ongoing.