Alex Pereira moved to 2-0 inside the octagon with his win at UFC Vegas 50 but nothing came easy against fellow Brazilian knockout artist Bruno Silva.
The former GLORY Kickboxing Champion showed his impressive acumen again, but had to also be cautious of Silva’s powerful grappling and shots coming back over the three rounds. Pereira’s combination of blinding power, and other nasty moves won the final fight 30-27. All three judges voted in Pereira’s favor.
” We talk about MMA — a lot people criticize me grappling and how I ground, but I decided to come here and demonstrate what I do every day,” Pereira stated. Any name. I have been watching [Jared] Cannonier do a fantastic job and almost on the cusp of a title. I would love to face him.”
The strikers were using heavy leather to attack Pereira’s body and legs early on. As he looked to close the distance on his taller, longer opponent, Siva would rush forward and throw punches in bunches to really get in Pereira’s face.
After Silva had a short moment to recover, Pereira was back on his feet and unleashed a series of shots that caused serious damage. Pereira was so powerful with his punches that his shots were actually moving Silva back and forth as “Blindado” looked to survive the onslaught.
Pereira displayed a smart, tactical approach to his combos. He was often sticking with straight punches followed by hooks. However Silva did not seem to slow down. Silva was still launching bombs of his own and he also managed to threaten with his grappling as well to keep Pereira guessing.
Pereira finally managed to stop Silva in the final round of punches. He then started connecting with straight punches. Pereira then unloaded a number of massive hooks to the head and body that had Silva rattled.
With less than 30 second remaining, Pereira attacked his opponent with an enormous uppercut that probably shattered Silva’s nose. He also had Silva standing on rubber feet. Still, Silva continued to fire punches in survival mode and he didn’t actually drop to his knee until after the final horn sounded.
Although it wasn’t an easy win for Pereira, he continued his development in mixed martial art as he had three rounds to fight Silva. Cannonier will be facing UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya next. Pereira is unlikely to get the fight, but he is certainly one to keep an eye on whenever he book his next fight in 2022..
