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Anthony Hernandez vs. Michel Pereira squared off in a Middleweight contest earlier tonight (Sat. Oct. 19, 2024) at UFC Vegas 99 inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. In a dominant win, Hernandez beat the life out of Pereira!

Pereira landed a hard front kick early that earned Hernandez’s attention, and the Brazilian shucked off the first takedown attempt. Immediately, Pereira flurried and tried to force a finish on his wounded foe, but Hernandez hung tough and fought his way off the fence. “Fluffy” landed a right hand and began getting a hold of Pereira a bit more. He wasn’t able to land the takedown yet, but Pereira was spending more and more time with his back to the fence. The two traded punches and knees in the clinch before Hernandez went back to the wrestling well. With 40 seconds remaining, Hernandez scored his first takedown of the fight with a clinch throw.

He finished the round throwing ground strikes with momentum firmly in his corner.

Hernandez was immediately back on the wrestling to start round two but an eye poke slowed the action. “Fluffy” was feinting his shots, landing punches, then actually shooting to get effect, and Pereira was definitely slowing. Still, the hulking Brazilian attacked a guillotine choke and put Hernandez in real danger! Hernandez scrambled his way into top position, getting exactly what he wanted despite the threat of the choke.

Hernandez went to work dropping elbows and advanced into mount, but Pereira reversed his foe … for a moment. Hernandez wrestled up and floored Pereira again moments later, absolutely drowning his foe in pure pace. Rinse and repeat, Hernandez was threatening chokes, throwing Pereira to the floor, and battering him between transitions.

Less than 30 seconds into the third, Pereira was stuck on the floor and the fence again. The Brazilian was still scrambling gamely, but he was fully in Hernandez’s world and could never truly escape his grasp. “Fluffy” fully established top position about two minutes into the round and went to work with dropping hammers. He also came close to an arm triangle choke, draining Pereira even further.

The Brazilian needed a miracle with 10 minutes remaining.

Pereira managed to land a good knee before getting taken down again, but that was the only real change in round four. He just continued to beat up Pereira with relentless punches and grappling transitions, drowning the Brazilian finisher in offense. Based on how Pereira stumbled to his corner, throwing in the towel would have been a reasonable decision. Instead, he was sent out for five more minutes of pain and punishment. Hernandez pushed hard for the finish, and a series of elbows prompted Herb Dean to intervene.

It was more of a mercy stoppage than anything else, but it was definitely the right call.

This was a tremendous victory for Hernandez, who set multiple volume-based records in the course of this victory. Outside of the first minute, he was never in serious trouble and controlled the flow of the fight. Once his wrestling began to work, every aspect of Hernandez’s game clicked beautifully.

It really was a Khabib-esque mauling. By the end of the fight, Pereira looked like a broken man, even if he never actually stopped fighting back.

Result: Hernandez defeats Pereira via fifth-round TKO

For complete UFC Vegas 99 results and play-by-play, click HERE!

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This is the UFC Vegas 99 live blog for Anthony Hernandez vs. Michel Pereira, the middleweight main event this Saturday in Las Vegas.

“Fluffy” Hernandez enters the headliner riding an impressive five-fight winning streak. Four of those wins have come via submission as Hernandez has proven himself to be one of the most dangerous grapplers at 185 pounds. Now he faces a fellow surging newcomer to the rankings in a battle to determine who gets a shot at the top 10 next.

Joining the UFC in 2019, Pereira—currently No. 15 in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings—began his UFC tenure as a welterweight, making a name for himself with his flashy style that featured spinning attacks, backflips, and a number of other extravagant maneuvers. After a couple of setbacks early on, Pereira found his stride, ripping off five straight wins at 170 pounds before moving up to middleweight. Since the jump up, Pereira has won three in a row in a combined 3:01. Now, Pereira has his eyes on climbing the rankings with a quick finish of Hernandez.

Check out the UFC main event live blog below.

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Conor McGregor has 500,000 reasons to pick against Francis Ngannou.

“The Notorious” boasted on social media that he has placed half-a-million on Renan Ferreira to to defeat Ngannou by knockout in Saturday’s PFL Battle of the Giants main event. The bout marks Ngannou’s first MMA fight since a successful defense of the heavyweight title at UFC 270 in January 2022.

Ngannou has never been finished by strikes under MMA rules, but he was knocked out in brutal fashion by Anthony Joshua in a boxing match this past March. The loss dropped Ngannou to 0-2 as a boxer, with one of those setbacks being a narrow split call against Tyson Fury.

According to McGregor’s post, should Ferreira beat the odds, the bet will pay out $ 1,675,000. Ferreira has scored 11 of his 13 pro victories by KO/TKO, including a recent win over Ryan Bader and three wins in 2023 that earned him a PFL heavyweight tournament crown and a $ 1 million prize.

McGregor has made a habit of sharing large wagers in partnership with betting website Duelbits. This past July, the UFC star cashed in on another $ 500,000 wager when he successfully predicted that old foe Nate Diaz would defeat Jorge Masvidal in a boxing match.

Updated: After the loss, McGregor tweeted – then deleted – the following.

THE RICH GET RICHER ILL GET THAT BACK.

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This is the PFL Battle of the Giants live blog for Johnny Eblen vs. Fabian Edwards 2, the middleweight title fight this Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Eblen—currently ranked No. 5 in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings—is 15-0 in his MMA career. After winning the Bellator middleweight title from Gegard Mousasi in 2022, Eblen has since defended his title twice, including a win over Edwards just 13 months ago. Most recently, Eblen eked out a win over PFL light heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay for the PFL Champion vs. Champion title back in February.

The brother of former UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards, Fabian has not had quite the same level of success as “Rocky.” Recently though, the 31-year-old fighter has looked much improved, stringing together three wins to earn his shot at Eblen’s middleweight belt last year. In that fight, Edwards started strong but faded in the third round, but after a bounce back win in March, the Englishman hopes to finish what he started last year.

Check out live blog for Eblen vs. Edwards below.

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