A couple of months ago, Alex Pereira shocked fans with his stunning comeback win over Magomed Ankalaev. But his latest professional victory now takes a back seat to a major personal announcement that has left the UFC fan base in awe.

The two-division champion has confirmed his relationship with fellow UFC fighter Tracy Cortez after the couple spent New Year’s Eve together.

“Tracy Cortez and Alex Pereira kicked off the New Year by going public as a new couple.” Popular MMA social media account Championship Rounds shared the update, posting a photo from ‘Poatan’s Instagram story where he made the relationship public. Seeing two of the UFC’s most recognizable fighters together, fans were quick to react.

Following the announcement, a fan was quick to target Cortez’s ex-boyfriend, UFC fighter, Brian Ortega, writing, “Ortega in shambles rn,” suggesting that ‘T-City’ might be feeling the sting right now. In reality, Ortega appears to have moved on, as he reportedly married the mother of his two children, Stephanie Roberts, last year.

One fan chimed in and wrote, “My favorite male and female fighter are together.” Honestly, that’s pretty remarkable, considering Pereira and Cortez are two well-known UFC superstars who have now come out publicly sharing their relationship status. Following that, another excited fan commented, “Tracy Cortez taming the Stone Face? Bro’s smiling like he just KO’d Izzy again 😂😂 CUTEST UFC couple since…” And to be fair, the Brazilian did look pretty happy after finding love again.

Continuing the dig at ‘T-City’, another fan wrote, “Brian Ortega tried to fight Alex. This was the result.” Here, the fan tried to paint a picture of some sort of imaginary duel between the Mexican native and the Brazilian over Tracy Cortez, with Pereira ultimately winning her heart. While these comments kept rolling in, another user simply couldn’t believe the situation at all, asking, “Is this AI ?”

To address the fan’s concern, the image is not AI-generated. As mentioned earlier, Poatan had uploaded the picture on his Instagram story. Now, as the Brazilian legend’s relationship status started making rounds, Joe Rogan has also made a really interesting take on his next fight.

Joe Rogan thinks Alex Pereira will face Ciryl Gane next

After defeating Magomed Ankalaev, Alex Pereira had his sights set on a legacy fight with Jon Jones at the still-unannounced White House card. However, recently, ‘Poatan’ revealed that fighting at Dana White and Donald Trump’s dream project might be a no-go. That said, it doesn’t mean the light heavyweight champion has run out of options.

According to UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, if the two-division champ wanted, a move to heavyweight could be very realistic, with Ciryl Gane emerging as a possible opponent.

“There’s a lot of chatter about him fighting in the heavyweight division now. There’s a lot of chatter about him perhaps even fighting Ciryl Gane. I don’t know how much is true, I haven’t talked to Dana [White] about it. But it’s not an illogical move.” – Joe Rogan said in one of the JRE episodes.

At the moment, UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall is undergoing medical treatment after ‘Bon Gamin’ poked him in the eye at UFC 321. Because of that, there’s no confirmed timeline for when the Brit will return. In that scenario, the UFC could definitely look to matchmake Pereira vs. Gane, possibly at the projected White House event.

That said, as 2026 has already brought good news for Alex Pereira after he found love once again with Tracy Cortez, the big question remains. Do you think ‘Poatan’ could also capture a third belt this year? Let us know in the comments section below.