The MMA Daily

To me, this fight feels a lot like a showcase for Alex Pereira. Not to discredit Andreas Michailidis, but the UFC did their due diligence when finding an opponent for Pereira. Michailidis is a striker, who has in his last eight wins, won six via knockout. However, Michailidis has lacked durability. He has suffered all four of his professional defeats via knockout. In Michailidis’ last loss, he couldn’t make it back up to his feet to end the round, forcing the referee to call an end to the fight. The one thing I will say, Michailidis has been a mixed martial artist since 2009. He has twelve years under his belt, whereas Pereira returned to MMA in 2020 after four years away from the sport. 

As for a prediction, I have Pereira winning. While the Brazilian’s lack of grappling and ground game can be exploited, I’m not sure Michailidis’s wrestling and grappling is good enough to be the one to do it. I’m going to assume Michailidis will try however and quite frankly, I don’t blame him. Pereira is a world champion in kickboxing with twenty one knockouts in thirty three wins. Not that Michailidis can’t hold his own on the feet, but with four knockout defeats, to stand with Pereira increases the risk of being defeated. With all that said, I do believe Pereira wins via TKO.