Michel Pereira Went Straight From The UFC Octagon To Saving Packs Of Dogs In Brazil's Floods
MMAFighting- Michel Pereira flew back to his home state of Pará after scoring a big first-round victory over Ihor Potieria at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro on May 4, but decided to interrupt his vacation to help those affected by the historic floods in Rio Grande do Sul.
Pereira travelled to Canoas, more than 2,100 miles away Macaba, and has posted videos daily on his Instagram page to show his efforts and ask for donations.
More than 2.1 million people were affected by the floods, destroying hundreds of thousands of houses. The death toll due to the floods has now risen to 149, but the number is expected to grow since entire cities have been decimated.
“I’m exhausted but I can’t get tired of helping,” Pereira wrote on Instagram. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life, so I chose to be on the front line. We are with you, Rio Grande do Sul.”
On a separate post, Pereira wrote that “the scenes I’ve been seeing are scary. I’ve never seen something like this even in a movie, but I’m sure of one thing: we’re going to win this fight here too.”
Shoutout to the great Guilherme Cruz for translating some of those posts - give him a follow if you're into MMA.
It takes a special kind of person to see chaos and destruction and run towards it, rather than from it. Honestly - it's the main reason I read comic books, and love superhero movies; someone behaving so selflessly to help and give hope to others is one of the most inspiring things I can think of.
Right now, the UFC's Michel Pereira is one of those heroes for many down in Brazil, where he is on the "front lines" helping out and rescuing animals following horrendous floods.
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Look at all of those dogs he and his group saved!
It breaks my heart that they were just trapped/swimming around scared and clueless as to what to do, but thank god for people like Pereira for working around the clock to help as many people/animals as possible. I've always liked him as a fighter, but now I know just how much I like this guy as a person. My hometown of Little Ferry NJ was majorly impacted by Hurricane Sandy (we got 6ft3in of water in our basement!) and even gestures as small as people bringing up sandwiches in baggies while we cleaned out the wreckage meant a lot and went a long way. This stuff by Michel Pereira is truly the work of heroes!
As that MMAFighting article mentions, hundreds of thousands of houses have been destroyed and the death toll is up to 149 as of this writing - so if you're feeling generous, I've linked the crowdfunding campaign that Pereira set up for the victims….