Along with his eccentric combating type and laundry listing of electrifying finishes, Michel Pereira is likely one of the hottest fighters on the UFC roster. Following lacking weight for his final welterweight bout in 2023, the Brazilian bruiser made the choice to maneuver up in weight to 185 lbs., the place he has since gained three straight within the first spherical with three efficiency bonuses. Now, “Demolidor” will get his first crack on the middleweight top-15 when he faces Anthony Hernandez at UFC Combat Night time 245.
Final Time Out…
On one thing of a scorching streak himself, Hernandez is at present driving a five-fight win streak (together with 4 finishes) since struggling a 39-second TKO loss to Kevin Holland in 2020. The final time we noticed “Fluffy” compete within the Octagon, he managed to place away the then surging Roman Kopylov, a person who had racked up 4 consecutive knockout victories in a row, at UFC 298 by second-round submission.
Having been ranked as soon as earlier than within the 170-lb. division, Pereira is not any stranger to coping with among the greatest opponents on the planet. Though Hernandez is at present listed as the favourite of their upcoming match, the explosiveness and the inventive software case of the Brazilian signifies that Pereira will not be too distant from nailing the upset.
Pereira: The Early Days
Starting his skilled profession in 2011, Pereira competed principally in his native Brazil for the subsequent 4 years, aside from taking just a few bouts in Peru, amassing a file of 13-5, with a kind of losses coming towards future UFC fighter Carlston Harris. In 2015, he accepted his first struggle exterior South America when he battled Abubakar Vagaev at Akhmat Combat Present 18 in 2015, the place he misplaced by unanimous determination.
From right here, Pereira continued to achieve expertise on the intercontinental MMA circuit by combating in a number of completely different nations like Mongolia, Japan, South Korea, and Serbia. The latter particularly is the place “Demolidor” discovered probably the most success, capturing the Serbian Battle Championship welterweight strap in 2017 and defending it one time. He additionally tried to accumulate the promotion’s middleweight title in 2018, however was soundly starched within the very first spherical by one other soon-to-be UFC competitor, Duško Todorović.
UFC Comes Calling
It wouldn’t be lengthy till Pereira made his personal transfer to the world’s largest combined martial arts promotion, as a result of after selecting up two extra wins, he made his UFC debut in New York at UFC Combat Night time: dos Anjos vs. Lee on Might 18, 2019. Combating on US soil for the primary time, the Brazilian impressed in spades by ending Danny Roberts in lower than two minutes with a flying knee, incomes himself his first Efficiency of the Night time award.
After only one fast contest within the promotion, Pereira had made it seem to be he was a reputable prospect that appeared to be a future contender within the making. That was till he ended up dropping his subsequent two fights and noticed many of the hype surrounding him begin to die out.
First was a unanimous determination loss to Tristan Connelly (towards whom Pereira missed weight), after which a disqualification defeat to the Final Fighter season one winner Diego Sanchez. Regardless of dominating Sanchez all through everything of their assembly, “Demolidor” made the pricey mistake of hitting “The Nightmare” with a knee whereas he was grounded, finally rendering Sanchez unable to proceed.
Getting Again within the Swing of Issues
With the momentum of his magnificent debut now utterly gone, Pereira discovered himself in a dire state of affairs, for another loss at that time might need spelt an finish to his younger run within the UFC. Rebounding in wonderful style, nevertheless, the high-flying Brazilian proceeded to win his subsequent 5 bouts at welterweight, taking such names like Zelim Imadaev, Khaos Williams, Niko Worth, André Fialho, and Santiago Ponzinibbio.
The streak ended up main Pereira into the 170-lb. high 15, the place he was anticipated to take care of among the greatest that the division needed to supply. Sadly, whereas he can be tied to 2 completely different fights towards Sean Brady and Stephen Thompson, Pereira didn’t get the prospect to face both of them. Brady pulled out of their scheduled contest because of an damage and “Wonderboy” declined to struggle “Demolidor” as a result of he missed weight by three kilos.
Going to Middleweight
It was in a part of stated weight miss that prompted Pereira to maneuver up in weight to 185 lbs. for his subsequent journey to the Octagon in 2023, which got here reverse Final Fighter 29 veteran Andre Petroski. Very similar to in his UFC debut all these years in the past, Pereira got here out robust, knocking out Petroski in simply over a minute, giving him his first defeat in virtually three years. Maintaining along with his profitable methods in his new division in 2024, the Brazilian rapidly rattled off one other two blistering first spherical stoppages of Michał Oleksiejczuk and Ihor Potieria.
Wanting like a bulldozer at middleweight, Pereira is now seeking to earn a quantity subsequent to his title by violently pushing previous Anthony Hernandez. Although the 31-year-old seems to be unstoppable on this weight class, Hernandez stands as the largest take a look at of Pereira’s UFC profession. No matter who walks (or limps) away with the victory, MMA followers will certainly be entertained when these two finishers collide in the primary occasion this Saturday.
