The show-stopping Michel Pereira fought Niko Price to a hard-fought decision victory at UFC 264 and is now eying a scrap with Nate Diaz.
Pereira looked electric inside the Octagon last Saturday. The Brazilian’s knack for fluid movement brings about some very exciting moments inside the cage, the latest being when he seemingly dropped Price after catching a kick, then decided to look away from his opponent and launch a backflip into Price’s face.
Even though the blow partially landed, it still had many scratching their head in either amazement or confusion. After succeeding against Price, Michel Pereira is now on a 3-fight win streak and always looks to put on a show with his outlandish style.
“I’ve been trying to put on shows, to be different. Pereira said to reporters at the UFC 264 post-fight press conference. I feel MMA has lost a little bit of this. But with my style, I won’t let it happen. (Saturday), I came up with a few things. Niko has surprised me with a few things. I said in all my interviews he would be ready because he knows I’m very focused and hard-working. So he came well prepared. I was well prepared and I managed to come out with the win.”
Despite Pereira gassing out in the third round against Price, the first two rounds were so dominant that he took all three of the judge’s scorecards. With a string of three solid wins, the 27-year old once again has his sights set on Nate Diaz.
“Now I want to fight Nate Diaz. Pereira said. I want to get into the rankings. I need to get into the rankings to fight the best guys in my division. Some guys are not willing to fight me because I’m not ranked, so now I want to get ranked in order to fight them.”
His callout might be a bit of an overreach, but sometimes in the sport of MMA one must call their shot. Although, his idea of establishing a rank off of a Nate Diaz fight isn’t really there considering Diaz has no welterweight ranking next to his name. Understandably, it seems Michel Pereira suspects once he’s gotten over on a name like Diaz, then no ranked opponents can pass up on an offer to fight with him.
Would you be interested in watching a fight between Michel Pereira and Nate Diaz?
