Alex Pereira and Bruno Silva faced off in a Middleweight clash tonight (Sat., March 12, 2022) at UFC Vegas 50 from UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Pereira looked loose to start, opening with some kicks. Silva pressured, but Pereira escaped his first attempt to clinch. Silva landed a glancing right hand, then the two traded in the pocket. Pereira connected with a nice left hook, but Silva answered on the counter. On the whole, the exchanges were quite competitive through the first half of the round.
Silva began to find some success countering with kicks. With about 90 seconds remaining, he changed levels along the fence and scored his first takedown of the fight! Pereira was quick to stand back up, however, mostly avoiding his foe’s heavy ground strikes in the process. Back in the open, Pereira pressured but ate a counter. In the closing seconds of the round, Pereira put together a solid combo while Silva’s back was to the cage.
The two traded kicks to begin the second frame. Silva pressured, but it was Pereira landing good strikes on the counter. Silva started to really target his opponent’s lead leg, punctuating his combinations with digs to the thigh. Silva scored another double leg takedown, but again, Pereira was quick to return to his feet. The fight moved to the clinch, where both men landed heavy shots. After breaking away, Pereira connected with another clean hook, but Silva kept pressuring. Silva slipped a hook, fired back a nice counter. Silva landed some nice flurries to close the round, but he slipped at the end and gave up top position.
After 10 minutes, the fight felt very much up in the air with just a single round remaining.
Pereira stuffed a takedown early in the third. In the clinch, Pereira dug a couple nice knees to the mid-section then reversed position along the fence. They separate just before the halfway point in the round, and Pereira looked the fresher man. Soon afterward, Pereira stunned Silva. He tried to pour it on, Silva wrapped up the clinch and survived. Moments later, the fight devolved into a brawl, and Pereira defended another takedown without issue. Back in the clinch, Silva landed some decent shots of his own, but Pereira answered with a pair of huge left uppercuts that badly rocked him near the bell.
All in all, this was a great test for Alex Pereira! Silva pressured him and threw some hard shots, mixing in some takedowns to boot. Pereira handled the challenge well, really turning it up in the third round to seal the victory in his favor.
A title shot remains far off, but this was a really quality win for “Po Atan.”
Result: Alex Pereira defeats Bruno Silva via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
For complete UFC Vegas 50: “Santos vs. Ankalaev” results and play-by-play, click HERE!