Muslim Salikhov vs Michel Pereira: Salikhov to deal with his opponent on guard

On January 16, another UFC tournament will take place. In the co-fight of the evening, Russian fighter Muslim Salikhov will meet the representative of Brazil, Michel Pereira.

The fight will take place in the welterweight category. Salikhov is ranked number fifteen in the official UFC challenger rankings, while Michel Pereira is not in the division’s top 15.

Muslim, King of Kung-Fu, is a striking puncher who got into MMA by accident and burns napalm in the UFC. He came from the famous Dagestani wushu-sanda school and made a name for himself in China, where he fought kickboxing every month and became a local star. But one day, he was cheated, instead of a kicking tournament, he went to an MMA tournament, won, and that is how it began.

In the UFC, he lost his first fight by submission but then won five fights in a row and slid into the top 15 of the welterweight division. That’s quite surprising, as Salikhov is still not very friendly with wrestling.

His last fight was in June 2021, when Salikhov beat by points veteran Francisco Trinaldo (27-7 record at the time). The fight was hard, but Salikhov managed to outbid his opponent, sent him to KO, even converted, but didn’t end the fight before the end. Probably because of an eye injury he sustained during the fight.

Salikhov is a five-time Wushu-Sanda World Champion (2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015). In 2006, Muslim was invited to China to participate in the King of Kung Fu tournament, in which only Chinese were allowed to fight until then. Salikhov won and became the King of Kung Fu. He is still the only non-Chinese national to win the title. Muslim has also competed in professional kickboxing tournaments, and in 2011 he started his career in MMA. In 2017 Salkihov became a UFC fighter.

Pereira is the Brazilian who does the hell out of the octagon: running around the net, doing somersaults, all that capoeira stuff.

But that has not stopped him from winning, and he is now on a three-fight winning streak. In his previous fight in July 2021, he beat Niko Price by unanimous decision (the record at the time was 15-4).

Strangely, the bookmakers don’t have much faith in Salikhov. This stand-up fight is just about perfect for him, though. Yes, Pereira is a lively fighter who won’t be easy to catch, but who’s talking about a knockout? The Russian’s punching skills are somehow more effective, letting the Brazilian try to make everything spectacular and beautiful. I bet that Salikhov will successfully stew him up and take it on points, most likely.

Meanwhile, analysts are offering odds of 2.00 on Salikhov’s win and 1.80 on Pereira’s win.