Michel Pereira believes there is a strong chance that Anthony Pettis ducked him for tomorrow’s UFC Vegas 17 card.
Tomorrow night, Michel Pereira will be taking on Khaos Williams in a fight that is expected to steal the show at UFC Vegas 17. But if Pereira had it his way, he would be taking on Anthony Pettis instead. Unfortunately for Pereira, things did not go his way and both men have different opponents. And Michael Pereira has questions about the Pettis’s suspicious reasoning for allegedly rejecting the fight.
“I’m upset with Anthony Pettis because he said he was hurt, he had a back injury, and wouldn’t fight me, and I understood that, he’s hurt and can’t fight, OK, but now he’s fighting on the same card on the 19th,” Pereira told MMA Fighting.
“I think it’s fear, right? It can only be fear. I don’t know,” Pereira continued. “He can’t fight me but will fight someone else? I think it’s fear. … I know many fighters in my division are afraid of me, but time will come for me to fight them all. With my humbleness, focus, discipline and charisma, I’ll reach the top and get my moment.”
When presented with Michel Pereira’s accusations, Anthony Pettis decided to set the record straight and clear up the misunderstanding.
“When they offered me a fight on the 19th, I was looking at the 12th, the last fight card,” Pettis told MMA Fighting. “If I’m gonna fight, I’d rather be on the last card fight of year, get an extra week. This was probably three weeks ago. I think they offered him to my agent for the 12th and I’m like, ‘I’d rather have the extra week.’ During that one week of negotiations when [Leon] Edwards got his COVID test results and pulled out because of COVID, that opened up a spot on the 19th card and I hit up Dana [White] myself [and said], ‘Dana, let me get on that card.’
“Dana sends me five names and he’s like, these are the guys available. That guy’s name wasn’t on that list. I know who he is because he’s tried the ‘Showtime Kick,’ and he did it a couple of times, but he’s mistaken that he thinks I’m afraid. I already fought the guy who’s in the main event of the card, why would I be afraid to fight this dude?”
Anthony Pettis then advised Michel Pereira to look at his résumé and study some of the names he has stood opposite to inside the Octagon before calling him afraid. Pereira did also state that he has enormous respect for Pettis’s work and would still be interested in a fight with Pettis, but both men both have other names to worry about tomorrow night, with Michel Pereira facing Khaos Williams and Anthony Pettis facing Alex Morono.
What are your thoughts on this exchange between Michel Pereira and Anthony Pettis?
