Pereira's sister looks to follow her oppa into the UFC

Alini Pereira, 35, the younger sister of two-division UFC champion Alex Pereira, is looking to follow her oppa into the UFC.

Alini is set to fight Smilla Sundell at DWCS 96, scheduled for Oct. 13 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. A win — and a strong enough impression on UFC CEO Dana White — could earn her a contract.

Like her brother, she is a late bloomer. She competed in kickboxing under the Glory banner and in karate combat, where she became the inaugural flyweight champion. She only began competing in MMA in 2022 and carries a modest 3-2 record. In her most recent bout, at the Netflix MVP event in May, she edged Jade Mathon-Wong by split decision — with Alex himself in her corner, drawing considerable attention.

It is hard to shake the impression that a mid-30s fighter with a thin MMA record received a DWCS offer largely on the strength of her brother's wide influence on UFC business.

The matchup itself, however, is anything but easy. Sundell is a genuine prospect, and foreign media have noted that if Alini was hoping for a smooth path to the UFC, Sundell is about as tough a draw as she could have gotten.

The 21-year-old Swede has spent years competing at the highest levels of combat sports despite her age. Formerly known as Smilla Fairtex, she made her name in ONE Championship, Asia's largest MMA organization, where she became the inaugural women's strawweight Muay Thai world champion.

Remarkably, Sundell was just 17 at the time, setting a record as the youngest champion in ONE Championship history. Her striking record of 40 bouts — 36 wins, 5 losses and 1 draw — dwarfs Alini's in both volume and quality. Since relocating her training base to Las Vegas, she has also been building her MMA career steadily. Her official MMA record stands at just 2-0, yet she is considered the favorite for exactly that reason.

Alex Pereira stepped away from the spotlight after an ambitious bid for the interim heavyweight title ended in a loss to Ciryl Gane at the UFC White House event in June. Now the question is whether Alini can pull off an upset and give her brother's comeback a boost.