This coming Saturday at UFC Vegas 81, Michel Pereira will finally make his UFC middleweight debut as he takes on Andre Petroski.
The move up in weight stemmed from the Brazilian missing weight against Stephen Thompson back in August, as well as being very big for welterweight.
This won’t be the first time the 30-year-old will fight at middleweight as he fought Dusko Todorovic back in 2018 on the regional scene. He then went on to miss weight in just his second UFC outing.
Since his last win over Ponzinibio in May, Pereira (28-11, 2NC) has seen three bouts cancelled up until this point. At the UFC Vegas 81 media day, “Demolidor” spoke about that whilst admitting that he has ‘a lot more energy’ coming into this weight cut as a middleweight.
“It was not easy, it was tough to be honest but we know how life is, it’s tough to be a champion but I’m here to start a new chapter in my life and be champion one day so Saturday I’m a middleweight.
I’m feeling very well as a middleweight, I have a lot more energy so I was training more and better, so yeah, I’m confident.”
Pereira was originally scheduled to take on Marc-Andre Barriault this weekend, but the Canadian pulled out of the bout. Fortunately for the Brazilian, the UFC dialed the number of Andre Petroski, and he answered with a ‘yes’.
The unorthodox Pereira gave his opinion on Petroski as an opponent and detailed the threats he believes the wrestler brings.
“I do believe he’s going to try to take me down, but I’m prepared to defend and put on a show. I want and hope that we both put on a show that the fans want.”
Whilst admitting that middleweight is going to be his division moving forward, Pereira also revealed that he used to cut 21kg’s, which equates to 46lbs, to make the welterweight limit.
Watch the full UFC Vegas 81 media day appearance from Michel Pereira above.
