Alex Pereira has been selected as the winner of the 2026 Forrest Griffin Community Award and will be honored during this year’s UFC Hall of Fame ceremony.
Pereira will receive recognition on July 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, as part of the UFC’s 14th annual International Fight Week, for his contributions outside the octagon. Along with the award, he will receive a $25,000 donation to the charity of his choice through the UFC Foundation.
“Alex is one of the biggest stars in the world and it’s great to see him use his platform to give back to the community by helping youth in Brazil,” UFC President Dana White said. “By offering free after-school tutoring, computer literacy programs, and jiu-jitsu training to more than 500 local youth, he is directly helping the students create better lives e for themselves. It’s an honor to present him with this award.”
The Forrest Griffin Community Award highlights an athlete who has done “exceptional volunteer and charity work and the meaningful impact their efforts have on the community.” Pereira founded The Instituto Poatan (Poatan Institute / Poatan Cares Foundation) in 2024, whose mission is to “promote social and sports initiatives, using sports as a tool for transformation. The non-profits vision is to become a benchmark for encouraging, expanding, and spreading sports practices that drive social, educational, and community development.”
Past recipients of the Forrest Griffin Community Award include Dustin Poirier (2021), Max Holloway (2022), Giga Chikadze (2022), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (2023), Beneil Dariush (2024), and Charles Oliveira (2025).
