Michel Pereira Plans to Unveil New Techniques vs. Kalinn Williams at UFC Fight Night 183

Blew him a kiss then slapped him!?

@UFCPereira is truly in his element tonight. #UFCVegas9 pic.twitter.com/i80f35cot5

— UFC (@ufc) September 6, 2020

After an impressive performance against Zelim Imdadaev at UFC Fight Night 176 that included a payback slap to the face before his third-round submission victory, Michael Pereira returns to the Octagon on Saturday to face the dangerous Kalinn Williams, who is coming off back-to-back knockout victories.

“Definitely he is a dangerous guy with lots of knock out power who deserves all my respect, but I’m also bringing some surprises to him,” Pereira recently said during a live session on Portal de Vale Tudo. “As always, I´m coming to win, entertaining the fans and, hopefully, getting my fourth UFC bonus.”

When asked about the possibility of repeating his face slap technique against Williams, Pereira promised that is not part of the game plan.

“I have many tools to do my show without disrespecting my opponents with ‘Modo mão de bomba’ (bomb hand mode). I just did that with the Russian as an answer for the slap in my face he did at the weigh-ins, but if Williams respects me as a fighter I have different weapons for him,”said Pereira, who mentioned a number of colorfully-named moves he plans to introduce in the upcoming fight.  

Pereira also shared his excellent transition to Las Vegas, where he has been living since his last fight three months ago.

“The structure here is amazing. As my trainer Alejarra said, if I got three UFC bonuses in four fights training in a poor structure in my city, imagine how much I can improve training with him and using the unbelievable structure of the [UFC Performance Institue],” said Pereira, who added that his English is improving rapidly thanks to an American girlfriend.

Pereira’s only complaint is in regards to the fact that many ranked opponents still refuse to fight him.

“I almost finished the year without fighting [again] after four ranked guys refused to fight me. I have to thank Williams a lot for allowing me to finish this difficult 2020 with three fights,” Pereira said.

“Demolidor” already has plans for his next callout should be take care of business against Williams at UFC Fight Night 183.

“No doubt, Anthony Pettis. He said he wouldn’t face me because of a rib bruise, but all of a sudden he appears on the same card fighting Morono. How come?”

Pereira also discussed how the rise of flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo, his former teammate in Para, Brazil, has inspired him in his own career.

“Man, I cant describe how happy I am to see that guy with the belt,” Pereira said. “We arrived together to train in Machida´s dojo about 7 years ago, and some veteran did a lot of bullying with him, calling him ‘little crazy.’ He persevered and turned into the best in the world.

“Every time I see Deiveson with that belt on his waist I think, ‘What a great lesson for the bully.’ Definitely he inspires me a lot to keep following my dream to be a UFC champion.”