The MMA Daily

We have a can’t miss fight in the Middleweight division, as Alex “Poatan” Pereira takes on Bruno “Blindado” Silva. Coming off a successful UFC debut, one in which Pereira won via an impressive knockout, the Brazilian will enter the octagon with all eyes on him. Notably having defeated Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya twice in Kickboxing, the route to a title shot could take shorter than anticipated. Meanwhile, Silva is currently on a rampage. He has won seven straight and seventeen of his last eighteen fights, with fifteen of the victories coming via stoppage. Of those fifteen stoppage victories, ten have come in the first round.

As for a prediction, I have Silva winning. While Pereira is getting all the attention, Silva is quietly creating a raucous in the Middleweight division. A heavy handed striker, Silva has stopped opponents in nineteen of his twenty-two victories. However, contrary to Silva saying he’s going to stand and bang, I don’t see that being all that true. A BJJ black belt, Silva is worlds above Pereira on the ground. And seeing that Pereira has transitioned from kickboxing, his takedown defense and ground game are ripe for the picking. While I expect chaos early, Silva will eventually get this fight to the mat and win via TKO.