UFC heavyweight fighter Tallison Teixeira goes up against Sergei Pavlovich at this weekend’s UFC Fight Night 277, and he’s heading into the event feeling confident after having recently sparred with former two-division champion Alex Pereira.

“'[Pavlovich] is third in the heavyweight rankings, but I trained with Alex [Pereira], who is one of the greatest in the sport, which gave me a lot of confidence for this fight,” Teixeira said on the ‘Overdogs Brasil’ podcast. “Glover [Teixeira] has always been a reference for me in grappling, and Alex is beyond words. In our sparring, he threw some hands that I felt like God was trying to pull me away. Thank God he didn’t connect!

“Without a doubt, it was the best camp of my life. I know Pavlovich is dangerous, but I’m very confident.”

Large even by heavyweight standards, the 6ft 8″ Teixeira holds a 9-1 career record and has gone 2-1 in the UFC so far, including wins over Justin Tafa and Tai Tuivasa, along with a 35 second KO loss to Derrick Lewis.

Given that he’s currently ranked just No.15 in the heavyweight division, the 26-year-old Teixeira is taking a big step up to face the No.3 ranked Pavlovich, who is coming off back-to-back decision wins over Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Jairzinho Rozenstruik last year.

Still, it’s understandable that Teixiera will have taken confidence from sparring with Pereira, a former kickboxing ace who has gone on to become one of MMA’s biggest stars, winning the middleweight and light-heavyweight titles along the way.

Pereira has since vacated the 205lb belt and is now set to challenge for the interim heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane at the UFC: White House event on June 14th.