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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Farah Hannoun

Alex Pereira, only man to finish Israel Adesanya, set to make debut at UFC 268

Glory kickboxing champion Alex Pereira has put pen to paper.

Pereira (3-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who holds two wins over UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in kickboxing, has officially signed to compete in the UFC.

On Wednesday, Pereira posted a video of his contract signing on Instagram.

 

Although he did not announce his opponent, a source told MMA Junkie his first fight will be at middleweight against Andreas Michailidis (13-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) at UFC 268 on Nov. 6.

A person with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie but asked to remain anonymous because the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. BJ Penn dot com was first to report the news.

The news of Pereira signing with the UFC was initially reported by The Telegraaf.

Pereira will compete in MMA for the fifth time. The 34-year-old Brazilian is 3-1, most recently scoring a devastating first-round knockout of Thomas Powell at LFA 95 in November.

With the addition, the UFC 268 lineup now includes:

  • Champion Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington – for welterweight title
  • Champion Rose Namajunas vs. Zhang Weili – for women’s strawweight title
  • Michael Chandler vs. Justin Gaethje
  • Luke Rockhold vs. Sean Strickland
  • Frankie Edgar vs. Marlon Vera
  • Nassourdine Imavov vs. Edmen Shahbazyan
  • Irene Aldana vs. Germaine de Randamie
  • Al Iaquinta vs. Bobby Green
  • Andreas Michailidis vs. Alex Pereira
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