With his eccentric fighting style and laundry list of electrifying finishes, Michel Pereira is one of the most popular fighters on the UFC roster. Following missing weight for his last welterweight bout in 2023, the Brazilian bruiser made the decision to move up in weight to 185 lbs., where he has since won three straight in the first round with three performance bonuses. Now, “Demolidor” gets his first crack at the middleweight top-15 when he faces Anthony Hernandez at UFC Fight Night 245.
Last Time Out…
On something of a hot streak himself, Hernandez is currently riding a five-fight win streak (including four finishes) since suffering a 39-second TKO loss to Kevin Holland in 2020. The last time we saw “Fluffy” compete in the Octagon, he managed to put away the then surging Roman Kopylov, a man who had racked up four consecutive knockout victories in a row, at UFC 298 by second-round submission.
Having been ranked once before in the 170-lb. division, Pereira is no stranger to dealing with some of the best competitors on the planet. Although Hernandez is currently listed as the favorite in their upcoming match, the explosiveness and the creative tool case of the Brazilian means that Pereira is not too far away from nailing the upset.
Pereira: The Early Days
Beginning his professional career in 2011, Pereira competed mostly in his native Brazil for the next four years, other than taking a few bouts in Peru, amassing a record of 13-5, with one of those losses coming against future UFC fighter Carlston Harris. In 2015, he accepted his first fight outside South America when he battled Abubakar Vagaev at Akhmat Fight Show 18 in 2015, where he lost by unanimous decision.
From here, Pereira continued to gain experience on the intercontinental MMA circuit by fighting in several different countries like Mongolia, Japan, South Korea, and Serbia. The latter in particular is where “Demolidor” found the most success, capturing the Serbian Battle Championship welterweight strap in 2017 and defending it one time. He also attempted to acquire the promotion’s middleweight title in 2018, but was soundly starched in the very first round by another soon-to-be UFC competitor, Duško Todorović.
UFC Comes Calling
It wouldn’t be long until Pereira made his own move to the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion, because after picking up two more wins, he made his UFC debut in New York at UFC Fight Night: dos Anjos vs. Lee on May 18, 2019. Fighting on US soil for the first time, the Brazilian impressed in spades by finishing Danny Roberts in less than two minutes with a flying knee, earning himself his first Performance of the Night award.
After just one quick contest in the promotion, Pereira had made it seem like he was a legitimate prospect that looked to be a future contender in the making. That was until he ended up dropping his next two fights and saw most of the hype surrounding him start to die out.
First was a unanimous decision loss to Tristan Connelly (against whom Pereira missed weight), and then a disqualification defeat to the Ultimate Fighter season one winner Diego Sanchez. Despite dominating Sanchez throughout the entirety of their meeting, “Demolidor” made the costly mistake of hitting “The Nightmare” with a knee while he was grounded, ultimately rendering Sanchez unable to continue.
Getting Back in the Swing of Things
With the momentum of his magnificent debut now completely gone, Pereira found himself in a dire situation, for one more loss at that point might have spelt an end to his young run in the UFC. Rebounding in glorious fashion, however, the high-flying Brazilian proceeded to win his next five bouts at welterweight, taking such names like Zelim Imadaev, Khaos Williams, Niko Price, André Fialho, and Santiago Ponzinibbio.
The streak ended up leading Pereira into the 170-lb. top 15, where he was expected to contend with some of the best that the division had to offer. Sadly, while he would be tied to two different fights against Sean Brady and Stephen Thompson, Pereira didn’t get the chance to face either of them. Brady pulled out of their scheduled contest due to an injury and “Wonderboy” declined to fight “Demolidor” because he missed weight by three pounds.
Going to Middleweight
It was in part of said weight miss that prompted Pereira to move up in weight to 185 lbs. for his next trip to the Octagon in 2023, which came opposite Ultimate Fighter 29 veteran Andre Petroski. Much like in his UFC debut all those years ago, Pereira came out strong, knocking out Petroski in just over a minute, giving him his first defeat in almost three years. Keeping up with his winning ways in his new division in 2024, the Brazilian quickly rattled off another two blistering first round stoppages of Michał Oleksiejczuk and Ihor Potieria.
Looking like a bulldozer at middleweight, Pereira is now looking to earn a number next to his name by violently pushing past Anthony Hernandez. Though the 31-year-old appears to be unstoppable in this weight class, Hernandez stands as the biggest test of Pereira’s UFC career. Regardless of who walks (or limps) away with the victory, MMA fans will surely be entertained when these two finishers collide in the main event this Saturday.
