Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Hey, since Diego Sanchez snatched Michel Pereira’s win away from him, it’s only right that Pereira snatch Sanchez’s feud with McGregor away, right?
Pereira was two or three rounds up on Sanchez depending on who you ask (his crazy guru cornerman had some unique theories on the scoring amongst other things) when an illegal knee to a grounded Diego ended the fight in Sanchez’s favor. Thus ended the UFC Rio Rancho co-main event, not with a bang but a whimper.
We’re certainly not going to judge Diego Sanchez negatively for declaring he was unable to continue after the knee. A quick glance at his past salary reveals that decision undoubtedly earned him win pay in the neighborhood of $100,000. Pereira’s knee was blatantly illegal, it cut Diego up, it messed Diego up. Nothing wrong with making someone pay for a foul once in a blue moon.
But that’s us. Someone less impressed with Diego was Conor McGregor, who took to Twitter after the fight to mockingly declare “Conor McGregor vs. Diego Sanchez!”
The two have a Twitter history that runs back to 2013.
@TheNotoriousMMA @danawhite I’m up next in Dallas Texas in March let me know if you want to get #KTFO ? Your all talk #challengeisout
— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) November 27, 2013
@TheNotoriousMMA @danawhite see talks shit but when the challenge is laid out he crawls back into his little shell. #dallas #letsdoit
— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) November 27, 2013
@DiegoSanchezUFC @danawhite You brain dead, stuttering fool. Read the fine print. And put your bib on so you don’t drool on my tweets.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) November 27, 2013
Alas, that fight never came about and is most certainly past its due date. But the allure of the (alleged) Red Panty Night is strong, so we shouldn’t be shocked that DQ loser Michel Pereira backflipped his way into McGregor’s mentions for his own challenge.
I will still fight with you one day, I am growing every day to fight with the best and you are one of my list, wait for me to arrive and I will dominate my category!
— Michel Pereira ufc (@UfcPereira) February 16, 2020
”I will still fight with you one day, I am growing every day to fight with the best and you are one of my list,” Pereira declared. “Wait for me to arrive and I will dominate my category!”
At 1-2 in the UFC, Pereira is a ways away from even a whiff of them panties. But good on him for cage jumping the opportunity when it arose. And as McGregor himself noted, there may be plenty more fights ahead and enough time for Pereira’s star to ascend to where it would need to be for a “Notorious” bout.
”Look at the Donald situation,” he said the night he defeated Cowboy. “Me and Donald have been going back and forth since 2015. We’re involved in this business and we’ll be here a long time. It’s forever, so there’s no rush on anything.”
What do you think, Maniacs? Is this just another bump on Pereira’s road to fame or is he just a flash in the pan?