In a sport as individual as mixed martial arts, alliances between fighters have always had something special. Training together, sharing camp or even developing real friendships between potential opponents is something that has historically changed careers, created viral stories and given rise to some of the most unexpected images in the UFC.
In recent days, one of the situations that has generated the most conversation within the world UFC has been the unexpected moment starring Ilia Topuria and Alex Pereira during the press conference of UFC Freedom.
It all started when Josh Hokit began to throw provocations towards several fighters present on stage. The situation heated up especially when he directed comments towards Alex Pereira, including references to his family and his mother. Pereira, who is not fluent in English and usually remains much calmer in this type of context, did not respond directly.
It was then that Ilia Topuria reacted immediately. The Spanish-Georgian champion intervened in Pereira's defense and ended up facing Hokit in the middle of the stage, causing one of the most tense moments of the entire conference.
The images quickly went viral because many fans interpreted the scene as a kind of spontaneous alliance between two of the biggest current stars in the UFC. Although they have never been seen training together or sharing camp, Topuria's gesture towards Pereira was widely commented on social networks.
And it would not be the first time that unexpected connections appear within the MMA.
One of the most remembered examples of recent years was the relationship between Darren Till and Khamzat Chimaev.
What started as simple training ended up becoming one of the most viral friendships in modern MMA. Till traveled to Sweden to train with Chimaev at Allstars Gym and quickly both began to appear constantly together on social networks, videos and interviews.
The fans ended up baptizing them as the "Smesh Bros". Between sparring sessions, jokes, sports cars and wild training, the duo became one of the most talked-about phenomena of the moment.
Till even accompanied Chimaev in some of his most important moments in the UFC, including part of his preparation for key fights.
There have also been much more competitive historical alliances.
Daniel Cormier and Cain Velasquez built for years one of the most dominant partnerships in the history of American heavyweight in AKA together with Javier Mendez. They trained together daily and for a long time they even avoided the possibility of fighting each other.
Something similar happened with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev. More than just partners, they ended up developing a completely joint training structure that ended up dominating UFC's lightweight for years.
Another curious case was that of Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal. For a long time they were inseparable in American Top Team, sharing training, corners and personal life... until the relationship exploded publicly and ended up becoming one of the most personal rivalries in modern UFC.
Jon Jones and Holly Holm also shared camp at Jackson Wink for years, helping each other in several of their most important preparations.
Even outside of the large traditional gyms, this type of alliance is still essential. Many modern champions build small circles of trust around specific fighters with styles that they consider useful to evolve.
In reality, these relationships explain a lot of how elite MMA works. Even if the fights are individual, the growth of a champion rarely happens completely alone.
And that's precisely why fans always pay so much attention to who trains with whom... or who comes out to defend whom when chaos appears outside the octagon.