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Following Stephen Thompson's earlier callout, Michel Pereira has taken to social media to announce his interest in the matchup, with the two now expected to fight later this year.
Since losing to Diego Sanchez after hitting the veteran with an illegal knee, the Brazilian has been almost flawless inside the octagon, winning five straight and earning a #15 ranking next to his name. The 28-year-old has already fought twice this year and hopes to have at least one before the year comes to an end.
Replying to Stephen Thompson's fight proposal, Michel Pereira sent a simple message to the former kickboxer and publicly accepted the callout for a potential welterweight clash.
'Wonderboy' has been struggling inside the cage as of late, losing in both of his last two appearances for the UFC. After losing the grappling exchanges throughout the fights against Gilbert Burns and Belal Muhammad, the 39-year-old has asked to be matched up against a striker and it seems he may have found his next opponent.
Michel Pereira is a flashy stand-up fighter who enjoys throwing unorthodox strikes with all the intent on taking fighters' heads off. While it seems like a sensible callout by Thompson, 'Demolidor' has a black belt in jiu-jitsu and could pose some serious problems for the aging veteran if this one hits the ground.
After earning his way into a title shot with a string of high-level performances, the karate expert has not been able to recapture the form that sat him alongside the elites at 170. A decision loss to Darren Till and a knockout defeat against Anthony Pettis show he needs to make improvements in the octagon.
Would a win put Stephen Thompson in the title picture?
While he has a knack of scoring highlght-reel performances, a win over the #15-ranked welterweight would not be enough to place Stephen Thompson back in the title picture.
Currently sitting at #7 in the division, the 23-fight MMA star will need to put another run of stand-out results together to position himself to once again fight for UFC gold.
Though a big knockout would put him on the right track, Thompson must go through one of the many grappling experts that occupy the 170lb weight class and face those who are capable of exploiting his biggest weakness if he ever wants to put a UFC title around his waist.
