Pereira showed up three pounds over the 171-pound limit for his fight against “Wonderboy,” but it’s clearly Thompson that’s the jerk here.
Michel Pereira returned to action at UFC Vegas 81 this past weekend (Sat., Oct. 14, 2023) in Las Vegas, Nevada, earning a win over Andre Petroski via technical knockout just one minute into their main card bout (watch highlights here).
It was a bit of an anti-climactic return for “Demolidor,” who was making his Middleweight debut inside the Octagon after missing weight for an important Welterweight contender clash with Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. That bout would get canceled, and hey … when you weigh-in at 174 pounds, don’t be surprised when that happens.
Pereira still sounds sour about the whole experience, though. On the latest episode of The MMA Hour, the Brazilian had strong words for “Wonderboy.”
“I wanted to fight, of course,” he said through a translator. “I was ready and prepared. I suffered a lot to lose weight for that fight, so obviously I was upset. I thought he was a little coward. In my entire career, I never saw anything like that, but at the same time, he was within his rights.
“So, what happened is it was 1.5 years without a fight,” Pereira continued. “I had five fights canceled because of other fighters and I started gaining a lot of weight. On the week of the fight, a lot of weird things started happening to me, and then we realized it was because I was too strong, I had gained a lot of weight, and that was the challenge.”
Unfortunately, we’ll probably never see Pereira vs. Thompson now.
“He’s in a different weight class so I don’t think about fighting him any more,” he said. “I’m at 185 and the opportunity has passed.”
“185 is the weight class where I feel better, my body is better, my training is easier,” Pereira said about Middleweight. “In the other weight class I suffered so much. I feel good in this weight class so that’s the weight class I’ll stay in for now. I only had to cut 10 pounds in the week before, I prepared more and just felt so much better — I just kept training.”
As for his fight against Petroski — which ended before it even got started — Pereira is just as surprised by the quick win as the rest of us.
“The gameplan was to knock him out, but I didn’t think it would be this fast,” he admitted. “He was a guy that was really good, coming from a victory, so it really surprised me.
“I already spoke to my manager because I want to come back and fight, the sooner the better, I’m ready,” he contimnued. “No preference, I don’t even know much about this new weight class, but one fight that I really like, I really enjoy him, he’s a bit of a showman, his name is Israel Adesanya.
“It would be a fun fight,” Pereira continued. “I have nothing against him, just admiration. And I’d love to fight him.”
It may be awhile before “The Last Stylebender” returns to action, but we can’t think of a better fight for that comeback than Michel Pereira.
For complete UFC Vegas 81 results, coverage and highlights click HERE.