Much of the interest on an upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship card is not the
main event or even the co-headliner, but the main card opener.
Brazilian fans will have the opportunity to see two ranked
fighters, Thiago
Santos against Russia’s Magomed
Ankalaev and Marlon
Moraes taking on China’s Yadong
Song. Rather than the main or co-main, many are focused on
unranked clash of strikers on
UFC Fight Night 203. Two Brazilian strikers in Alex
Pereira and Bruno Silva
will throw down in the middleweight division with hopes of earning
a place among the top 15 with a dominant win.
The man named “Poatan” made his name not for his achievements in an
MMA setting, but rather for his kickboxing accolades. In 2016, and
then again in 2017, Pereira defeated currently UFC middleweight
king Israel
Adesanya in the ring. The first meeting, Pereira won a
five-round decision, and the rematch 11 months later saw Pereira
cleanly knock Adesanya out with a left hook. On the other hand,
Silva’s achievements have all come as an MMA fighter, with 28
fights to date and a stellar 86% knockout rate in his career that
includes three UFC victories. Silva’s in-cage experience and tough
in-your-face style on the microphone gained him a great deal of
popularity among fans. What should the audience expect from this
clash of strikers? To answer that question, Sherdog spoke to
several experts about the exciting matchup.
Andre Dida, head coach of Silva: “‘Blindado’ already faced
specialists in boxing, kickboxing, some of them with more than 100
fights. We always arrived in Russia as underdogs, like now, and
‘Blindado’ answered, turning off some of the toughest Russians in
their home country. All I can say is that he [hasn’t] shown all
[of] his arsenal in the UFC yet. I lived the golden era of Chute
Boxe with Shogun, Wanderlei, Anderson, Master Rafael and some of
the greatest champions this sport produced. Since then, we’ve been
working a lot on the evolution of muay Thai for MMA. That’s why our
team is called Evolucao Thai. ‘Blindado’ has no vanity to knock out
‘Poatan.’ He is ready in all areas. He can take down, submit or
turn him off standing up. No matter how, ‘Blindado’ will win.”
Patricky
Freire: “Both have knockout power, but I believe ‘Poatan’ will
win that one because he has more weapons than ‘Blindado,’ [with]
kicks, knees and a very dangerous cross punch. ‘Blindado’ comes
from a school that likes to cut distance and brawl. That’s a
perfect game for ‘Poatan.’ Besides having a very long range
advantage, ‘Poatan’ is a specialist in using it.”
Fabricio
Werdum: “‘Poatan’ impressed me a lot with his striking style.
He reminds me of [an] Anderson
Silva-type. But we have to recall that it’s an MMA fight and he
will face someone with much more experience in that area. What
impresses me about ‘Blindado’ is not just his aggressiveness, but
his happiness while in the Octagon. If he wants to test his
stand-up skills, he will run unnecessary risks, but if ‘Blindado’
does MMA, taking ‘Poatan’ down, he can win by points.”
Marcus
“Conan” Silveira: “‘Poatan’ built his MMA reputation on his
kickboxing titles, mainly on the two wins over Adesanya, even
having only five MMA fights. But ‘Blindado’ has almost 30 [MMA
fights] against very tough guys. In MMA, experience is something
that must be considered, and will always bring advantage.”
Wellington
Turman: “I train with ‘Poatan’ almost every day, and I fought
‘Blindado’ in UFC. Besides being very technical, ‘Poatan’ is
absolutely precise. Also, he improved his takedown defense. The
aggressive game of ‘Blindado’ fits perfectly to ‘Poatan.’ His
strongest point is exactly the intelligent defense system with
counter attacks.”
The pros are decidedly split on what should be a thriller for as
long as it lasts. The two middleweights will handle their business
on March 12 inside the UFC Apex, and as of Thursday, Pereira is a
moderate -175 betting favorite despite the experience edge in favor
of his opponent. While both predominantly win by knockout, neither
Silva nor his opponent has been stopped with strikes under MMA
rules.