If you happen to reside in or near Danbury, Connecticut, and you come across a middle-aged Brazilian man sporting a graying beard, a bald head, and effortlessly cruising on a fresh Harley-Davidson motorcycle, there's a good chance you've encountered none other than the former UFC light heavyweight champion, Glover Teixeira.
Teixeira recently acquired his new set of wheels, thanks to a heartwarming gesture from his protégé, Alex Pereira. A collaborative video shared on their Instagram accounts captured the surprise Pereira orchestrated for his long-standing mentor. Pereira, along with his sons, arranged for a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to be placed discreetly in Teixeira's garage. As Teixeira approached the scene, Pereira and his sons unveiled the bike, handed over the keys, and left the former champion astonished and grateful.
“I’m speechless thank you thank you very happy for the present,” Teixeira wrote in Portuguese. “I think what I always say in the gym and in interviews I think @alexpoatanpereira helped me more than I helped him and I’m always grateful for that, but this gift was from a friend I saw back there a potential to be a champion, and I wanted to be part of that Journey and him being a champion was everything, but when agent expects nothing the universe gives us much more, thank you my friend. Too happy.
“What an amazing gift from Poatan. I think Poatãn helped me more than I helped him. When he came to me, I saw his potential and I told him one day he would be champion and all I wanted was to be part of his journey. His winning was everything for me. But when you don’t expect anything, the universe gives us more than we deserve. Thank you my friend!”
I mean, wow. Look at that grin on Teixeira’s face – and he deserves this happiness. There certainly have been more well known and more talked-about fighters in UFC history, but has there been one more unanimously liked than Teixeira? What a guy. And Pereira’s selflessness here is next level. This seems like it was a totally out-of-the-blue, “What am I going to do today? How about I do something nice for someone who helped me out?” sort of move. Class all around. In case there’s any evidence needed to back the old saying that “presents are made for the pleasure of who gives them, not the merits of who receives them,” just look at Pereira. We finally cracked the code and figured out what makes him smile