Michel Pereira was inches away from being disqualified from UFC PPV fight after backflipping onto opponent’s head in ‘crazy’ move

As of October 2024, there are around 900 professional fighters signed to the UFC roster, and out of all of them, not a single athlete comes close to the insanity that Michel ‘Demolidor’ Pereira brings to the table.

With the flashy Brazilian set to return to the octagon this weekend in the main event of UFC Vegas 99, it’s time to take a trip down memory lane and look back at when Michel Pereira was only a few inches away from getting himself disqualified following (another) insane backflip.

Photo by Alexandre Loureiro/Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesMichel Pereira was almost disqualified after backflipping onto UFC opponentMichel Pereira rides into UFC Vegas 99 on the back of an outstanding eight-fight winning streak, which includes victories over tough contenders such as Michal Oleksiejczuk, Andre Petroski, and Santiago Ponzinibbio.

Yet it was his last performance that is the subject of this throwback, a fight against dangerous middleweight Ihor Potieria which took place at UFC 301 in May of this year.

Pereira was able to secure the win with a fabulous standing guillotine in round one and whilst the submission was highly impressive, the choke was locked up just a few seconds after he was almost disqualified from the contest entirely.

A showman to his core, Michel Pereira would send fans into hysterics when he backflipped over the guard of Potieria… But as the ‘Demolidor’ came down from the rafters, his knee appeared to land flush on the Ukrainian’s head.

On replay, it was revealed just how close Pereira was to being disqualified, with the knee first hitting the chest of Potieria only a few milliseconds before the momentum of the flip caused it to then strike the head.

The UFC 301 commentary team was quick to identify that Pereira was just a few inches away from a shock DQ loss with Paul Felder noting, “I still think he’s got to learn his lesson from doing backflips and trying to land illegal knees.

“But looking at the one angle, a lot of it did land on the chest, thank God for him, and I think that’s what stopped him from potentially getting DQ’d right here.”

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Michel Pereira just redefined the game with a move that left everyone jaw-dropped… literally! 🤯

Back in the octagon, he executed a backflip knee straight to his opponent’s dome! 😱 All he needed was 54 seconds to wrap up the… pic.twitter.com/9lqjbGUs9O

— Antonio Santiago (@awsan) May 5, 2024 View Tweet

Former double champion Daniel Cormier would later reveal the reaction of Pereira’s corner when he told them in the octagon that the backflip could have ended in an unceremonious disqualification.

“When I told him and his coaches, you should have seen the energy just drain from those guys, it looked like those men were going to cry because they thought that great performance and that choke was going to get overturned to a No Contest.”

“His heart just sunk [but] when I told the coaches that he won – just pure joy and jubilation. It was crazy… He’s a wild man and that’s what makes him fun, but in that moment, I hope he realizes that some of those actions can be very dangerous.”

Ironically, Pereira had already gained somewhat of a reputation for his acrobatic skills before UFC 301; having flipped, jumped, and span his way around a fair few fighters down the years – but that one against Potieria was just crazy to witness.

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Admittedly does less of this now, but that backflip makes an appearance now and again! https://t.co/j98rjPzS1T

— Vijay Randhawa ❎ (@VijayRandhawa91) October 16, 2024 View Tweet

“My goodness, his athleticism is a cheat code,” hailed former UFC fighter Kenny Florian, via the Anik and Florian Podcast, a few days later.

“It shows that this is a guy, it goes beyond winning – he wants to show his skills, like he’s there to entertain which I can appreciate because it takes some big balls, it’s one thing to do it in training but to do it live in a fight when it matters, and to pull it off.”

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Pereira returns to face ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez this weekend at UFC Fight NightMichel Pereira will put his eight-fight winning streak on the line this weekend when he faces Anthony ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez in the main event of UFC Vegas 99, scheduled for October 19 at The Apex.

Since suffering a vicious TKO loss to Kevin Holland in May 2020, Hernandez has secured five big victories in a row, including stoppage wins over Roman Kopylov, Edmen Shahbazyan, and Marc-Andre Barriault.

That being said, ‘Fluffy’ has experienced a stop-start few years in the promotion, with Tapology reporting that he’s had a whopping 10 fights canceled since that loss to Holland.

Despite a tough couple of years, Hernandez remains a bonified contender at 185lbs – ‘Fluffy’ currently occupies the #13 spot in the middleweight rankings, one above Michel Pereira who sits at #14.

Will we see yet more insanity from Pereira this coming weekend, or has the Brazilian finally learned his lesson? Find out at UFC Vegas 99 on Saturday, October 19.

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