Michel Pereira vs Andre Petroski at UFC Fight Night 230

MICHEL PEREIRA VS ANDRE PETROSKI FACTS

When is UFC Fight Night 230? Saturday 14October, 2023 - 22:00 start (UK)

Where is UFC Fight Night 230? UFC APEX, Enterprise, Nevada (US)

Where can I get tickets for UFC Fight Night 230?

What channel is UFC Fight Night 230 on? TNT Sports 1

Where can I stream UFC Fight Night 230? TNT Sports subscribers can stream the fight online via the TNT Sports website and Discovery+

MICHEL PEREIRA VS ANDRE PETROSKI LOWDOWN

Michel Pereira (28-11(2)) has truly learnt his lesson after gassing out against Tristan Connelly (2019) and getting disqualified against Diego Sanchez (2020). He has cooled the theatrics down and strung together five mature wins. He submitted Zelim Imadaev (2020) and earnt decisions against Khaos Williams (2020), Niko Price (2021), Andre Fialho (2022) and most recently Santiago Ponzinnibio (2022). He has not fought all year after having four fights fall through including his failed weight cut against Stephen Thompson at UFC 291.

The latest to get cancelled was against Marc-Andre Barriault, but thankfully Andre Petroski (10-1) has stepped up to fill the void. It is a ballsy move by the American as he is on a steady trajectory winning all five of his UFC fights. It is clearly too steady as he is hungry for a step-up in competition. After a very easy start to the UFC, he submitted Nick Maximov (2022) and outpointed Wellington Turman (2022) and Gerald Meerschaert (2023) and now welcomes Pereira to the middleweight division.

MICHEL PEREIRA VS ANDRE PETROSKI PREDICTION

Pereira is a perfect demonstration of how to harness raw athleticism and showmanship. He will need another calculated performance here as he steps up to middleweight to take on a very large and powerful grappler.

Pereira is a natural middleweight and will not be giving up any height and reach. It will be very interesting see him without the extra 15 pounds to cut and it could bring the best out of him.

However, this is a very tough introduction to the division as Petroski is a unit and very strong. Pereira will hold the clear striking advantage with better technique and more speed. He is also a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu which could come in handy as Petroski will bring his wrestling to the table.

He will look to throw bombs to set up the takedown. We can see him finding success in the first round, but Pereira has brilliant takedown defence and his cardio will make the takedowns easier to defend as time goes on.

Petroski hits hard and he will be a threat in the first round, but his cardio and striking is likely to let him down here.

Prediction: Pereira via Decision