UFC 268 video: Alex Pereira crushes Andreas Michailidis with brutal flying knee knockout
Alex Pereira proved the hype was real with his debut at UFC 268.
The former two-division GLORY champion, who famously holds a knockout over reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in kickboxing, showed why there was so much attention being paid to him after he connected with an unbelievable flying knee to knockout Andreas Michailidis just 18 seconds into the second round.
“I’m so happy,” Pereira said after moving to 4-1 in his mixed martial arts career. “I kept my cool, I saw my opening and I capitalized on the moment.”
Facing off with a noted kickboxer, Michailidis wasted no time closing the distance and going for a takedown within the first minute of the fight. While Pereira was defending well, Michailidis was stuck on his back and putting all of his weight down on the Brazilian to wear on him.
Pereira eventually got back to his feet and even earned a reset in the center of the cage from the referee, Michailidis just continued to attach himself to the former GLORY champion so he didn’t have any room to work.
The effort trying to maintain control on Pereira took a toll on Michailidis, who was visibly exhausted after the first round ended.
Pereira took advantage in a huge way as soon as he was unleashed from the corner at the start of round two as he casually stepped forward and then exploded into the flying knee that put Michailidis down on the ground. Pereira thought he had a walk-off knockout but Dan Miragliotta didn’t stop the fight just yet so he had to deliver a few more punches before the referee saw enough.
Thanks to his history with Adesanya from their past together, Pereira will undoubtedly receive a massive push from the UFC and it appears he’s ready to jump directly into the deep end of the middleweight division.
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