Pereira says illegal knee hit Sanchez in the chest

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

It looks like Michel Pereira believes he was wrongly disqualified against Diego Sanchez at UFC Rio Rancho.

It looks like Michel Pereira does not agree with the way his fight against Diego Sanchez ended at UFC Rio Rancho. But not because he thinks a “no contest” should have been awarded, or that Sanchez took the easy way out. But, rather it seems he’s arguing that the knee that ended the fight was clean.

After winning the first two rounds of the card’s co-main event, Pereira caught Sanchez with an illegal knee to a downed opponent early into the third. That move resulted in a cut, and after consulting with the referee, Sanchez decided he couldn’t continue. That resulted in a disqualification loss for Pereira, his second straight after picking up a highlight reel KO in his Octagon debut.

However, Pereira recently took to Twitter to try and prove that the knee really hit Sanchez in the head as originally claimed. ‘Demolidor’ shared some screenshots that he claimed showed the moment of the controversial strike from a different angle. And in those it appears as though the shot actually landed on Sanchez’s chest, making it a legal strike.

Furthermore, Pereira also claimed that the knee which cut Diego’s forehead open came from a prior, legal moment in the fight.

That was the knee that opened the cut on his forehead, the other knee took the chest. Essa foi a joelhada que abriu o corte na testa dele, a outra joelhada pegou no peito @UFCBrasil @ufc @danawhite @UFCFightPass @canalCombate pic.twitter.com/jrqY8F379l

— Michel Pereira ufc (@UfcPereira) February 18, 2020

But, if that’s his theory, fans aren’t having it. The tweet’s first reply shows a video from the same angle Michel posted. In the actual fight footage, Pereira appears to hit Diego in the head before following through to land the strike on his chest.

‍♂️ might be the fact in the process of trying to hit him with your knee, Diego head cushioned the impact. Looks like it your knee hit his head first before his chest. pic.twitter.com/xH5gAUsqNK

— Deepaps_ (@Deepaps5) February 18, 2020

Michel Pereira (23-11) dropped a unanimous decision to Tristan Connelly in his last fight out, at UFC Vancouver: Cowboy vs. Gaethje back in September of 2019. For as impressive has his knockout of Danny Roberts was, the Brazilian could be running out of time to keep his Octagon career alive.