Michel Pereira (photo via YouTube)

By FCF Staff

Plenty of fans and observers were praising Michel Pereira for his performance at UFC Vegas 9, and one person who clearly was very impressed, was welterweight champ, Kamaru Usman.

Pereira faced Zelim Imadaev at the September 5th, and once again, the Brazilian fighter’s highlight reel striking was on full display. Late in round three, Pereira slammed Imadaev to the mat, and proceeded to secure a fight ending, rear-naked-choke.

Although it wasn’t clear if Imadaev actually tapped to the submission, there was little doubt that Pereira was en route to a win. After the card, Usman had this to say about the 26-year-old, during the ESPN broadcast (quotes via MMA Junkie).

“I loved everything that I saw from him because he proved to everybody, our bosses, and myself included, that he can be a full complete fighter,” Usman said. “I mean, everything was spectacular – his awareness, his cage awareness, the way he was moving, the way he was setting up those traps moving side-to-side and then landing those big shots. It was a spectacular performance from him.”

“I think this is a guy that’s looking to get paired up against someone big in the future, the near future,” Usman said.

With the win, Pereira extended his record to 24-11, with 2 no-contests. Pereira was coming off a disqualification loss to Diego Sanchez in February, as the latter was unable to continue after taking an illegal knee in round three.