Alex Pereira, one of the greatest Brazilian fighters to ever step foot in the UFC, has opened up about what was the toughest fight of his life.

Pereira had to overcome an alcohol addiction, and he has admitted that the battle was anything but easy.

"It wasn't that I came in and decided to stop drinking," he told the Werdum Nao Para podcast.

"It was four years in the fight, if I didn't stop, I would be nobody. I never drank anything ever again.

"I never got into drugs and my problem was drinking. I drank every day. I drank almost a litre a day".

The Brazilian pointed out that sport helped him to overcome this hell.

"I even had drinking schedules, I was afraid," Pereira said.

"How many people suffer from alcohol and drug problems? Today, people have the opportunity to know that they can save themselves, through help and in sport.

Kickboxing was the great escape for Pereira, who, through sport, had a way out of drinking.

"I was drinking like crazy," Pereira said.

"That's when I thought sport would save me. In football, I couldn't play. But I knew I had a knack for fighting and I looked into martial arts.