Michel “Demolidor” Pereira (24-11 MMA, 2-2 UFC)
Welterweight (170lbs): 2-2 (UFC), Missed weight 1 time in the UFC
Michel Pereira is a lengthy 6’1″ welterweight that uses his reach, athletic abilities and capoeria martial arts style to put on a show for the fans while simultaneously beating up his opponent.
Michel frequently uses ‘big action’ striking and movements where he expends a lot of energy at once. It’s a style that pleases spectators but also requires for Pereira to have stellar cardio.
Pereira is huge for the welterweight division and at 27 years old has now been a professional MMA fighter for nine years. However, In the past couple of years, Michel has began to struggle with his weight cut when going down to the welterweight division.
Pereira fought for the vacant SBC Middlweight title in late 2018 but lost to the undefeated Dusko Todorovic, who is also in the UFC. Michel Pereira has fought at as high as 204.6lbs in an open weight bout against Dae Sung Kim in February of 2019. Pereira got an exciting second round finish and attracted the eyes of the UFC as well.
After getting the call up to the UFC, Pereira has made the 170lbs division his home to date.
Michel Pereira made his spectacular UFC debut where he not only made weight but breezed through Danny Roberts, finishing him in just one round. Unfortunately, Pereira’s sophomore bout with the promotional giant would not go nearly as smoothly. Michel missed weight for his fight against Tristan Connelly in September of 2019, coming in at 172lbs. After Pereira missed weight on the scale, the following day he also gassed out during his fight.
Obviously, Michel Pereira’s high-flying, high-action fight style is very taxing on his cardio. And with the added negative of a bad weight cut on top of the fact Pereira already cuts a lot of weight to begin with you have a recipe for a bad performance of fight night. And that’s just what happened for Pereira the following night with a unanimous decision loss.
Pereia has not missed weight since his bout with Connelly in 2019.
Michel Pereira was able to get back on track in his most recent bout back in September against Zelim Imadev when he finished him in the third round. Pereira looked like himself, but it was obvious that he dialed back the output of strikes and ultimately energy expenditure, and it paid off.
It’s going to be important for Pereira to use his explosiveness and size against such a dangerous fighter like Khaos Williams. But his most recent showing in the octagon displayed just how effective he is with slightly less flashy techniques and more intelligent energy expenditure while he is fighting in a weight class where he has such a dramatic weight cut.
