Pereira was originally scheduled to face Muslim Salikhov at UFC Vegas 46.
A change of opponent and now a change of card for Michel Pereira.
A few days ago it was revealed that Muslim Salikhov had to withdraw from his fight with Pereira for undisclosed reasons. The UFC has found a replacement opponent whose should be familiar to some MMA fans. ESPN reported that PFL and Bellator veteran Andre Fialho had agreed to step in on short notice at UFC Vegas 46 this Saturday. Due to a positive COVID-19 test in Pereira’s corner, this fight has since been moved to UFC 270 on January 22.
Fialho (14-3, 1 NC) is on a four-fight winning streak, which includes knockouts of former UFC fighters James Vick and Stefan Sekulic. He competed five times under the Bellator banner and compiled a 4-1 record, then participated in the PFL 2019 welterweight tournament. Fialho lost to Chris Curtis in the PFL’s regular season, had his second fight cancelled (and he was granted 3 points to get into the playoffs) when his opponent missed weight, then was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Glaico Franca.
Pereira (26-11, 2 NCs) is looking for his fourth straight win, which would be his longest winning streak since 2013. The exciting and eccentric Brazilian is coming off a decision win over Niko Price at UFC 264. He also defeated Khaos Williams by decision and won by submission against Zelim Imadaev. His last loss was a DQ against Diego Sanchez in a fight he was well on his way to winning before he threw an illegal knee to Sanchez’s head while he was down.
UFC Vegas 46 is headlined by a key featherweight matchup between strikers Giga Chikadze and Calvin Kattar.