At UFC Vegas 55, Michel Pereira defeated fellow welterweight, Santiago Ponzinibbio, securing an amazing victory. Following three rounds of intense competition, the Brazilian emerged triumphant through a split decision. The judges’ scorecards read 28-29, 30-27, and 29-28. The fight scored bonuses for both Pereira and Ponzinibbio – it was recognized as the “Fight of the Night.”
In the octagon interview Pereira called out Jorge Masvidal.
“Now I need [someone from the] top 15, top 10… Hey Nate, I’m ready! Hey Jorge Masvidal, come my friend!”
During the media scrum that followed the match, Pereira disclosed an amusing reason for wanting to duke it out with ‘Gamebred.’
According to the Brazilian, Masvidal sent an emoji of a praying hands gesture to Pereira’s wife.
Now Masvidal came out with the receipts and is claiming Pereira’s wife was the first one to slide into his DMs.
“How crazy a world and how far has society fallen that this idiot
@UfcPereira
would use his wife to hopefully 1 day get a paycheck and create a fake narrative to try and get a fight with me when clearly he sees she slid in my dm? Wishing you guys the best #marriagecounselor” Masvidal wrote on social media in addition to sharing this screencap.
One interesting detail in the photo is that the year the DMs were exchanged were 2020 and 2021.
The most interesting aspect of it all is that Masvidal is Ponzinibbio’s longtime teammate.
Considering Masvidal is one a losing streak it’s entirely viable Pereira is gunning for a showdown with him. Pereira cuts over 40lbs just to make welterweight while Masvidal had a long stint at lightweight and walks around close to welterweight.
This kind of a size discrepancy is a sure fire way to make Pereira into a star.
As for Masvidal, he’s sure to be waiting on a bigger name than Pereira – and one that could redeem him. At this point Masvidal lost to Usman twice and to Covington once.
His last victory was against Nate Diaz way back in November of 2019.