UFC Louisville has added an absolute powerhouse to its middleweight division. Early morning today, eurosport We first reported that the top 15 middleweights will clash on Fight Night in June, with Michel Pereira (31-11) taking on Romain Dolisez (12-3).
Starting with Dolidze, he hopes to end his recent two-game losing streak. The last time I saw him was in the main event against Nassourdin Imavov in February. He lost a decision that night, and before that he lost a decision to Marvin Vettori.
Those two losses came on the heels of a four-game winning streak that saw him break into the top 10 at 185. Although he was knocking on the door to winning the title, he now found himself at the bottom of the rankings. He needs a bad win at UFC Louisville, and to accomplish that he has to defeat arguably the hottest fighter in the division.
UFC Louisville
Michelle Pereira came into the UFC like a bat out of hell with a flying knee knockout over Danny Roberts. Pereira was a completely wild guy and his fighting style was not smart at all. It showed in his next fight, when he lost a decision to Tristan Connelly after completely running out of gas. He also lost weight in that fight. He then suffered a fluke DQ loss to Diego Sanchez.
He then won five consecutive matches at 170, earning him a chance to face Stephen Thompson. However, he lost a lot of weight in preparation for the match, so the match was called off. From there, Pereira made the decision to move up to middleweight, and the whole system has been set in motion since then.
He has fought three times at middleweight since October and finished in the first round three times. Most recently, he scored a first-round submission against Ihor Potieria at UFC 301 this past weekend and quickly bounced back again to fight Dolidze. A win could move Pereira into the top 10 at 185th place.