Michel Pereira suffered his first loss since joining the UFC on Saturday night’s card in Vancouver, Canada, losing a decision to short-notice replacement Tristan Connelly.
“Demolidor”, who missed weight by one pound for the welterweight affair, has received criticism online for doing backflips and unorthodox moves even before the actual fight started and then getting tired before the final round.
A day after the defeat that dropped him to 23-10 in MMA, Pereira released a statement in Portuguese on his social media and explained that he missed weight because his cornerman wasn’t able to get to Vancouver in time to help him due to visa issues.
Check Pereira’s statement below.
“Guys, many bad things happened. I got tired but not because of the things I did, but for the huge weight cut I had. I cut 17.5kg (38.5 pounds) by myself, with no on else (to help), and dealing with the stress of helping with my cornerman’s visa who wasn’t there. Everyone else had someone to help, I was alone there. It’s not an excuse, but I know I’m a fighter that grows as rounds goes by, but I got tired since my body shut down in the beginning of the second round.
“I fight for you guys, to put on a show or you. Let’s support more and criticize less. I fight this way to make UFC more fun. Fighters today only think about winning and put on boring fights, and that’s why MMA is decreasing so much. I want to make my fans happy by watching my fights, but this time things happened and led to my defeat. I lost to myself. I will be back to do it even better. You’ll see I have cardio to fight three rounds no problem.”
The contest was awarded the “Fight of the Night” in Vancouver, but Pereira wasn’t eligible for receiving the extra money since he missed weight. Therefore, Connelly went back home with the biggest win of his career and an extra $100,000.