The MMA world is still in the get-to-know-you phase of its relationship with UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira.

If Pereira’s latest social media drop is any indication, he’s endearing himself quite well.

Pereira (7-1, six finishes), nine days out from this Saturday’s first title defense in the UFC 287 main event, shared an off-the-cuff homage to UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell while messing around with a razor that garnered well over 300,000 likes on Instagram.

“I shave my own head, so I did one side and was like, ‘let me see how I look with a mohawk,’ and then I did the goatee,” Pereira, through an interpreter, recently told The Post via Zoom, describing how he came to resemble the iconic look of one of the UFC’s most famous faces during its rise toward mainstream awareness close to two decades ago. “I made a photo I was going to show just for [friends] but was like, Let me just post this.”

The “Iceman” look lasted about as long as it took for Pereira to share the imposing mirror selfie — though he didn’t close the door on bringing it back for a future fight night — but the reaction to it is another sign that the UFC may have a budding star on its hands.

That wouldn’t have been in the cards had Pereira not usurped Israel Adesanya’s 185-pound crown last November at Madison Square Garden via fifth-round knockout, in a fight he was just minutes from losing on the scorecards.

The victory capped a whirlwind rise through the MMA ranks for Pereira after racking up kickboxing championships across two weight classes, becoming UFC champion just 371 days after entering the Garden at 3-1 in MMA for his UFC debut.

“It’s a very special place with a lot of prestige,” Pereira says of the famous arena which played host to two of the biggest moments of his career. “Many fighters say, ‘I wish I could fight at Madison Square Garden.’

“I was gifted to not only make my UFC debut at MSG but also then win my world title over there. It’s definitely a very special place in my world.”

The win marked the third time in three attempts that Pereira secured victory over Adesanya (23-2, 15 finishes), a longtime rival from their kickboxing days whom he had defeated once by decision and a second time via knockout in their other sport.

Saturday in Miami, Pereira will look to make it 4-0 against Adesanya — even as it’s billed by UFC as “Pereira vs. Adesanya 2,” given it’s only their second meeting in this sport.

Each fight against Adesanya, who until the last fight had been in the running for pound-for-pound No. 1 as a years-long dominant champion, has been competitive, even if the results have gone just one way.

But going 3-0 against an opponent in combat sports, even across two sports, has to be a comfort to a champion like the 35-year-old Pereira.

Clearly, there’s no love lost between Adesanya and Pereira, who revels in taking frequent digs at his rival from afar.

Ahead of their fight last year, Pereira shared a video mocking Adesanya’s training drill that involved dodging tennis balls; in his version, Pereira stood still as someone gently lobbed balls around him.

Pereira agreed that there’s some psychological warfare at play with Adesanya, who himself is no stranger to tweaking his past opponents in the lead up.

“Definitely, it’s a little bit of mental warfare I implement because it works, but Israel used to do that with every single opponent before me,” said the Brazilian champion. “So now, he’s kind of tasting a little bit of his own game, and he’s not liking it.”

Should Saturday’s fight go his way, Pereira understandably sees “absolutely” no reason to give Adesanya another chance against him.

“Everything goes fine, there’s no reason for us to ever fight again,” asserts Pereira.