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Shout out to whomever it was who called this a few days ago
@ bud
@ bud
News Michel Pereira vs Roman Dolidze set for UFC Louisville on June 8
- Thread starter BoxerMaurits
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Great test for Pereira. I think he can kickbox comfortably to a decision or better, but Dolidze is tough to get out of there. Pereira has made some questionable decisions fight IQ wise occasionally, and also favored the club and sub lately. I wonder if Pereira's bravado gets the better of him here and he obliges Dolidze with some grappling?
If he can't finish but still dominates, I think him and Imavov would be a captivating fight.
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It was @JoeRowe
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Seemed like an easy call, although I was unaware that they were teammates or trained together recently. Shout out to them for taking it.
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Dolidze has looked outrageously durable and Pereira has absolutely been melting guys at MW.
Immovable = Dolidze’s chin
Unstoppable = Pereira’s MW power
Being undefeated shouldn’t be a requirement for the quote. I’m pretty sure I said the same thing about Cannonier vs Vettori…. Vettori’s chin won the real battle lol
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Love it, the Michel Pereira hype train keep on rolling at MW.
He’s looked incredible at 185lbs. I think he easily subs Dolidze, definitely first round, possibly first minute or two.
He’s looked incredible at 185lbs. I think he easily subs Dolidze, definitely first round, possibly first minute or two.
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Pretty much agree, and this is a great, intriguing matchup. Pretty pumped.
My brain says Pereira because he's been on fire. . . but my heart/gut are pulling towards Dolidze, who hasn't looked as good lately. That being said, I've been wrong in the past picking the streaking guy, not taking into account that the "meh" guy has been fighting much, much higher levels of competition, which is the case again here.
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Michel Pereira is the Lando Vannata the groove nation thought he would be.
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Good one. I'm loving Pereira at MW.
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I actually think Michel stands a good chance of finishing Roman here. Dolidze is basically the Mackenzie Dern of Middleweight: big and strong for the weight class, hits hard, good chin, aggressive on the feet, elite BJJ with great ability to snatch up opportunistic submissions... but has piss-poor striking fundamentals and very little wrestling to get the fight to his wheelhouse in the first place. At least Mackenzie will actively chase takedowns -- however bad they may be -- and try to drag her opponent to the ground for 15-25 minutes straight... Roman will have his corner beg him to wrestle only to decide he's not about that life, instead settling for plodding forward to throw the same overhand right ten times in a row or simply holding his opponent against the cage in the clinch.
Roman had a bit of charmed run there when he got guys who were conducive to making his limited toolkit look better than it actually is. Staropoli? A bloated Welterweight South American kickboxer (who amounted to nothing in the UFC) with very little defensive grappling going up in weight to fight a former Heavyweight. Even still, Roman had to grind him out against the cage to get the win in a bit of a snoozer. Kyle Daukaus? Decent win, but Kyle was a physically weak one-dimensional grappler who was visibly unprepared for Roman's power and physicality in the clinch. Also now cut from the promotion. Hawes and Hermansson were both doing very well against Dolidze and thoroughly out-striking him until they made the same fatal mistake... taking him down and letting him work his guard game.
Imavov, however, exposed just how limited of a fighter Dolidze really is. Nassourdine didn't even look particularly good in that bout and seemed to be stuck in first gear whilst making a lot of questionable decisions (like repeatedly engaging in the clinch)... yet he still nearly finished Roman early before then coasting at a glorified sparring pace through the rest of it to the tune of an easy 49-44/48-45 Decision. This wasn't performance where Nassourdine leveled up or Roman fell off, either -- it was just the Frenchman preying on the deficiencies in Dolidze's game that have always been there: the dude can't handle decent strikers with a modicum of defensive grappling. If those strikers have good lateral footwork and rangy weapons like a stiff jab? Yeah, he's definitely in trouble. We saw this as far back as the Trevin Giles fight where he got utterly stifled by a fairly mediocre dude. The same thing would have happened against Hermansson if Jack hadn't decided to let his ego win out and turn it into an ADCC match.
So how does all this factor into a fight against Pereira? Well, Michel has looked phenomenal since going to 185, albeit with a few caveats. Andre is a good win who had momentum, but chinny as fuck. Ihor is a can. But the way he dismantled Michal is hard to deny. His power, shot selection, speed, and killer instinct are on-point. His footwork maybe isn't quite as dynamic as it was when he was down at 170 dancing around, but then again he hasn't really had time to settle into a striking groove in any of these fights before they end. I still expect he'll be plenty fast enough to run circles around the plodding Roman. His hand speed and straight punches will give Dolidze fits. We saw the limits of Roman's iron chin in Round 1 against Imavov and with the way Pereira is now zapping dudes I expect we'll see the same thing again here, except he won't let up. The only real questions are how Pereira's cardio holds up at this new weight class and if the lack of debilitating weight cut really does help him in that regard (although Roman himself is no cardio king)... and if Pereira can stop the takedown.
On that latter point, Michel technically has a stellar 94% TDD in the UFC... but it's deceptive. Most of that comes from stuffing TDs against Old Man Diego Sanchez or a bloated short-notice Featherweight in Tristan Connelly. A handful of other guys have shot on him like Niko Price and Santiago Ponzinibbio, but those dudes aren't exactly elite grapplers. Petroski would have been a great test for Michel in this regard, but he never even got a chance to shoot lol. I suspect the strong hips he showed at 170 and added bulk will translate sufficiently to let him survive against Roman's sloppy TDs. It's also worth noting that Pereira has only been submitted once in his entire career and that was back in 2014.
If Pereira takes Dolidze down he's doing half his job for him.
Roman had a bit of charmed run there when he got guys who were conducive to making his limited toolkit look better than it actually is. Staropoli? A bloated Welterweight South American kickboxer (who amounted to nothing in the UFC) with very little defensive grappling going up in weight to fight a former Heavyweight. Even still, Roman had to grind him out against the cage to get the win in a bit of a snoozer. Kyle Daukaus? Decent win, but Kyle was a physically weak one-dimensional grappler who was visibly unprepared for Roman's power and physicality in the clinch. Also now cut from the promotion. Hawes and Hermansson were both doing very well against Dolidze and thoroughly out-striking him until they made the same fatal mistake... taking him down and letting him work his guard game.
Imavov, however, exposed just how limited of a fighter Dolidze really is. Nassourdine didn't even look particularly good in that bout and seemed to be stuck in first gear whilst making a lot of questionable decisions (like repeatedly engaging in the clinch)... yet he still nearly finished Roman early before then coasting at a glorified sparring pace through the rest of it to the tune of an easy 49-44/48-45 Decision. This wasn't performance where Nassourdine leveled up or Roman fell off, either -- it was just the Frenchman preying on the deficiencies in Dolidze's game that have always been there: the dude can't handle decent strikers with a modicum of defensive grappling. If those strikers have good lateral footwork and rangy weapons like a stiff jab? Yeah, he's definitely in trouble. We saw this as far back as the Trevin Giles fight where he got utterly stifled by a fairly mediocre dude. The same thing would have happened against Hermansson if Jack hadn't decided to let his ego win out and turn it into an ADCC match.
So how does all this factor into a fight against Pereira? Well, Michel has looked phenomenal since going to 185, albeit with a few caveats. Andre is a good win who had momentum, but chinny as fuck. Ihor is a can. But the way he dismantled Michal is hard to deny. His power, shot selection, speed, and killer instinct are on-point. His footwork maybe isn't quite as dynamic as it was when he was down at 170 dancing around, but then again he hasn't really had time to settle into a striking groove in any of these fights before they end. I still expect he'll be plenty fast enough to run circles around the plodding Roman. His hand speed and straight punches will give Dolidze fits. We saw the limits of Roman's iron chin in Round 1 against Imavov and with the way Pereira is now zapping dudes I expect we'll see the same thing again here, except he won't let up. The only real questions are how Pereira's cardio holds up at this new weight class and if the lack of debilitating weight cut really does help him in that regard (although Roman himself is no cardio king)... and if Pereira can stop the takedown.
On that latter point, Michel technically has a stellar 94% TDD in the UFC... but it's deceptive. Most of that comes from stuffing TDs against Old Man Diego Sanchez or a bloated short-notice Featherweight in Tristan Connelly. A handful of other guys have shot on him like Niko Price and Santiago Ponzinibbio, but those dudes aren't exactly elite grapplers. Petroski would have been a great test for Michel in this regard, but he never even got a chance to shoot lol. I suspect the strong hips he showed at 170 and added bulk will translate sufficiently to let him survive against Roman's sloppy TDs. It's also worth noting that Pereira has only been submitted once in his entire career and that was back in 2014.
If Pereira takes Dolidze down he's doing half his job for him.
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dolidge is going to get smoked. He is too slow, too rudimentary as a striker, Michel will style on him.
Best gameplan for Roman would be to shoot as many takedowns as he can, tire out Michel as much as possible and make it a dirty grimey grappleheavy slopefest.
Best gameplan for Roman would be to shoot as many takedowns as he can, tire out Michel as much as possible and make it a dirty grimey grappleheavy slopefest.
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Was a great prediction. We are all calling it, via the poll, but it's tough to call. Should be hella fun.
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Great fight going with pereira, Dolidze is slow as hell on the feet throws 1 strike at a time no real defence.
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