Quemuel Ottoni, who once defeated future UFC star Alex Pereira, is set to fight Kody Steele at Dana White’s Contender Series, reflecting on the mixed impact of his past win and aiming to impress for a potential UFC contract despite facing online harassment from Pereira’s fans.
The year was 2015. Quemuel Ottoni stepped into the Jungle Fight cage to face a man named Alex Pereira.
“Poatan” was making his MMA debut. Ottoni won via third-round submission after an exciting contest.
Pereira would go on to become a two-division champion in GLORY and the UFC—a path that also changed Ottoni’s life.
Ottoni returned to Jungle Fight after traveling around Brazil—and even a trip to Chechnya. He captured the welterweight title before signing with PFL.
Injuries led to the cancellation of that deal. Now, he faces a major opportunity Tuesday night against the undefeated Kody Steele at Dana White’s Contender Series at UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
Those big opportunities were helped by tapping out a man who became one of UFC’s biggest stars in 2024. But Ottoni says it also brought negatives.
“It has obviously helped me, but I don’t know if [that win] is good or bad,” Ottoni said in an interview with MMA Fighting.
“The past two years were full of criticism, a lot of bad things came with it. It was good, of course, because it has given me this chance [at DWCS], but it has brought a ton of bad weight along with it.”
“Alex has a lot of fans, and there are good and bad fans. They couldn’t see a highlight or any of that, an MMA website posting about me, that they tagged and attacked me.”
“Or someone from my family would comment on my post and they would reply with prejudice. It’s not Poatan’s fault, but one of his fans attacked my brother with prejudice. And that has bothered me for years. I was very upset about it.”
“But I managed to get one of them,” he continued. “My mom commented on a photo I posted and this guy started to attack her.”
“I was born on the East Zone [of Sao Paulo], brother, and we know a lot of people. I was not born a playboy, you know?”
“Some people there said, ‘We’ll find the guy and talk to him face to face.’ He apologized, but a lot of it upset me.”
These past two years were a mix of emotions.”
Ottoni is now a lightweight, distant from Pereira by 50 pounds. The UFC hopeful doesn’t expect that online hate to ever go away.
Ottoni said there’s no ill will towards Pereira—nor friendship—but he’s working on being “more mature” in how he deals with fan interactions.
The dream of fighting on U.S. soil comes true Tuesday night in Las Vegas. Ottoni said he welcomed all challenges at DWCS—and the same for a possible UFC future if he convinces Dana White to award him a deal with a victory.
“I never picked easy opponents,” said Ottoni, who won his past five fights on the Brazilian circuit.
“The first opponent they gave me on the Contender was an 8-0 guy that was beating everybody up but he pulled out, and now they gave me [Steele].”
“I can’t choose. We’re going to the world’s biggest promotion and I can’t choose.”
“I know a lot of people that picked fights in Brazil and made it to the UFC but couldn’t stay there.”
“I know I’ll impress them with a win. If it’s a knockout or a submission… I know he’s a jiu-jitsu guy but I’ve fought grapplers before and caught them when they made mistakes.”
“I know it’s a good fight and fans will love watching it.”