Michel Pereira wins unanimous decision over Khaos Williams at UFC Vegas 17
The Ultimate Fighting Championship hosts its final event of 2020 tonight, December 19, at UFC Vegas 17, live from the Apex Facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Headlining the event is a welterweight bout between two ranked assassins in Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson and Geoff ‘Handz of Steel’ Neal.
Initially, we were supposed to be getting a welterweight main event between Leon Edwards and Khamzat Chimaev, but Edwards withdrew from the bout due to a positive Covid-19 test, and the bout was replaced by the initial co-main event, Thompson versus Neal.
The feature fight of the evening is another welterweight contest, this one between Michel Pereira and Khaos Williams. We’ve seen from each of their fights, they’re both showmen, they’re both very fun to watch.
Pereira has toned it down a little bit recently, he’s been fighting smarter and conserving more energy, but still got the late finish against Zelim Imadaev his last time out. Williams has fought just twice in the UFC thus far, and has a total of just 57 seconds of fight time with two vicious KO victories.
It’s crazy, this dude just touches people and they’re out. The power he possesses is unmatched.
Williams has defeated Alex Morono and Abdul Razak Alhassan so far into his UFC career, and Pereira knocked out former professional boxer Danny Roberts in his promotional debut. This was a fight you didn’t want to miss!
Round 1
Pereira is making it hard for Williams to hit him right off the bat, as he stays on his bike and picks his shots, using his beautiful footwork. Pereira was successful landing a number of front snap kicks throughout the round, and was feinting a lot, trying to draw the strikes out of Williams.
Williams on the other hand landed a couple hard punches, nothing major, but he also started working on the legs of Pereira, in order to set his other strikes up.
Round 2
Williams opens up with a few punches at the start of round two, and continues with the leg kicks. Pereira continues moving, making for a difficult target. Williams is going for it landing hard strikes, but Pereira ties up with him. Williams turns Pereira into the fence, before Pereira circles out.
It really is insane how much Pereira moves, even when he’s conserving himself and not doing pointless, energy-costing things, such as backflips. He’s still so hard to predict, Williams is finding that out right now.
This is a very close fight thus far, though the numbers favor Williams. Pereira continues with the front kicks, and Williams continues landing hard punches at every opportunity. When he does find an opportunity, sometimes he throws just a couple strikes, sometimes he blitzes.
The two get into a striking exchange at the end of the round, and Pereira wraps Williams’ neck up and drags him to the ground. It’s crazy, he got a full on rear naked choke from a standing position in two seconds flat.
Round 3
About 90 seconds into round three and the two are trying to feel each other out in order to get the momentum going their way, because it’s a very close fight. Pereira starts moving even more, he’s keeping up with the snap kicks, and he’s doing a good job of mixing up his strikes.
Williams is continuing to punish Pereira leg, though it doesn’t seem to be effecting Pereira too much. He’s also continued punching when the right moment presents itself. Pereira secures a nice takedown, and is on top for about 15 seconds until Williams gets back up.
Pereira throws and lands a pretty nasty head kick, but W just eats it, before Pereira secures another double leg takedown. Pereira ends the round on top pounding away in Williams’ guard.
Official Result: Michel Pereira def. Khaos Williams via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
