Pros Pick: Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira vs. Bruno ‘Blindado’ Silva

Much of the interest on an upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship card is not the main event or even the co-headliner, but the main card opener.

Brazilian fans will have the opportunity to see two ranked fighters, Thiago Santos against Russia’s Magomed Ankalaev and Marlon Moraes taking on China’s Yadong Song. Rather than the main or co-main, many are focused on unranked clash of strikers on UFC Fight Night 203. Two Brazilian strikers in Alex Pereira and Bruno Silva will throw down in the middleweight division with hopes of earning a place among the top 15 with a dominant win.

The man named “Poatan” made his name not for his achievements in an MMA setting, but rather for his kickboxing accolades. In 2016, and then again in 2017, Pereira defeated currently UFC middleweight king Israel Adesanya in the ring. The first meeting, Pereira won a five-round decision, and the rematch 11 months later saw Pereira cleanly knock Adesanya out with a left hook. On the other hand, Silva’s achievements have all come as an MMA fighter, with 28 fights to date and a stellar 86% knockout rate in his career that includes three UFC victories. Silva’s in-cage experience and tough in-your-face style on the microphone gained him a great deal of popularity among fans. What should the audience expect from this clash of strikers? To answer that question, Sherdog spoke to several experts about the exciting matchup.

Andre Dida, head coach of Silva: “‘Blindado’ already faced specialists in boxing, kickboxing, some of them with more than 100 fights. We always arrived in Russia as underdogs, like now, and ‘Blindado’ answered, turning off some of the toughest Russians in their home country. All I can say is that he [hasn’t] shown all [of] his arsenal in the UFC yet. I lived the golden era of Chute Boxe with Shogun, Wanderlei, Anderson, Master Rafael and some of the greatest champions this sport produced. Since then, we’ve been working a lot on the evolution of muay Thai for MMA. That’s why our team is called Evolucao Thai. ‘Blindado’ has no vanity to knock out ‘Poatan.’ He is ready in all areas. He can take down, submit or turn him off standing up. No matter how, ‘Blindado’ will win.”

Patricky Freire: “Both have knockout power, but I believe ‘Poatan’ will win that one because he has more weapons than ‘Blindado,’ [with] kicks, knees and a very dangerous cross punch. ‘Blindado’ comes from a school that likes to cut distance and brawl. That’s a perfect game for ‘Poatan.’ Besides having a very long range advantage, ‘Poatan’ is a specialist in using it.”

Fabricio Werdum: “‘Poatan’ impressed me a lot with his striking style. He reminds me of [an] Anderson Silva-type. But we have to recall that it’s an MMA fight and he will face someone with much more experience in that area. What impresses me about ‘Blindado’ is not just his aggressiveness, but his happiness while in the Octagon. If he wants to test his stand-up skills, he will run unnecessary risks, but if ‘Blindado’ does MMA, taking ‘Poatan’ down, he can win by points.”

Marcus “Conan” Silveira: “‘Poatan’ built his MMA reputation on his kickboxing titles, mainly on the two wins over Adesanya, even having only five MMA fights. But ‘Blindado’ has almost 30 [MMA fights] against very tough guys. In MMA, experience is something that must be considered, and will always bring advantage.”

Wellington Turman: “I train with ‘Poatan’ almost every day, and I fought ‘Blindado’ in UFC. Besides being very technical, ‘Poatan’ is absolutely precise. Also, he improved his takedown defense. The aggressive game of ‘Blindado’ fits perfectly to ‘Poatan.’ His strongest point is exactly the intelligent defense system with counter attacks.”

The pros are decidedly split on what should be a thriller for as long as it lasts. The two middleweights will handle their business on March 12 inside the UFC Apex, and as of Thursday, Pereira is a moderate -175 betting favorite despite the experience edge in favor of his opponent. While both predominantly win by knockout, neither Silva nor his opponent has been stopped with strikes under MMA rules.