Kayla Harrison has nothing but respect for Alex Pereira.

Harrison and Pereira first fought together earlier this year, both scoring big wins at UFC 300. That night, Harrison made her UFC and women’s bantamweight debut with a second-round submission win over former champion Holly Holm, and Pereira successfully defended his light heavyweight title with a first-round knockout over former champion Jamahal Hill. After the event concluded, the two met backstage, where Harrison – a two-time Olympic judo champion – even saw fit to award Pereira a yellow belt, despite “Poatan” displaying no grappling skills in his UFC 300 bout.

Recently I spoke with Ariel Helwani about The MMA lessonHarrison explained why.

“A yellow belt is a joke, of course,” Harrison said. “They don’t usually give yellow belts to adults, so that was part of it. … And to be fair to him, he showed me the videos of him training and he was kicking (butt). I wish he would put this one out there, oh my God — he did the move I taught him and then he did the move you do when the move doesn’t work. I was like, ‘Dude, you look like a judoka!’ It’s crazy how quickly he picks things up. He looked like a real judo player. He knocked the kid over with his foot. Like he was slipping on a banana peel.

“So I gave him a yellow belt just for fun.”

Like Harrison, Pereira came to MMA after a long career in another combat sport: kickboxing. Pereira, a two-division GLORY champion, only joined the UFC in 2021 and has already put together a Hall of Fame-worthy career, winning titles in two weight classes, headlining several top events, and being named Fighter of the Year in 2022. He’s also become one of the biggest stars in all of MMA and is currently the favorite to win Fighter of the Year in 2024, too – and Harrison couldn’t be happier for him.

“He’s literally living his best life, isn’t he?” Harrison said. “He doesn’t speak English, but his character comes across. I think that’s what makes a superstar special: you can feel their aura and their character. I don’t even know if you can call it charisma, but that thing. He’s got charisma.”

“I’m just happy for him. When you hear his story and when you hear – he probably doesn’t talk about it much, but he was an alcoholic and he started competing. Dude, that’s crazy. I just love seeing that.”

Pereira recently headlined UFC 303, knocking out Jiri Prochazka in the 205-pound title rematch. Afterward, Pereira said he was open to a title defense against Magomed Ankalaev or perhaps a move up to heavyweight to become the first three-division champion in UFC history.