Michel Pereira declined to fight Roman Dolidze at UFC Louisville, citing the need to find a new gym and prepare in less than a month as the reason for his refusal, as both fighters train at the same gym.
So, Michel Pereira won’t be squaring off against Roman Dolidze at UFC Louisville. Scratch that match-up.
Pereira spilled the beans on Instagram last Friday. He was all set to step into the ring on June 8 in Kentucky. But when the UFC told him Dolidze was his opponent? He said nope. Both these guys are middleweights, training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.
Pereira, speaking in Portuguese, said, “I didn’t agree to this fight.” He continued, “The man trains with me every day at the P.I., at Xtreme Couture. He agreed to it, but I haven’t. To me, it’s not the moment to fight him. If he agreed to it, that’s his problem. I was surprised he agreed to it, really. To me, in my head, he’s a training partner, a friend. I see I’m not.”
He knows that eventually, he’ll have to face his training partners in the UFC. But he wasn’t ready to find a new gym and prep for a fight in less than a month.
“I would have to find another gym and organize everything to fight him,” Pereira said. “That’s why I didn’t accept it. He trained at Xtreme, and since I’m new there, I would have to go out and train somewhere else. I don’t even know where I would train. It’s too much logistics to fight in a month.”
Pereira’s been on a roll lately, winning twice in two months in the UFC. He beat Michal Oleksiejczuk and Ihor Potieria, earning bonuses for his performances. This boosted his win streak to eight straight. Dolidze? Not so much. He lost his last two fights to Marvin Vettori and Nassourdine Imavov.
“I’ll remove him from [a list] of those I won’t fight and add to [a list] of those I’d fight,” Pereira said. “I’ll organize myself to fight him. When they offered me a fight [at UFC Louisville], they didn’t say the opponent. It was a bummer when they said the opponent, and I said no.”
And what does Dolidze have to say about all this? He chimed in on Twitter.
“Yes we train together. I was told that he agreed to fight in June 8 (not June 1 when I was originally supposed to fight) and UFC asked me to change the date. Yesterday they sent me a contract. If they ask me to change the date (which he asked for) and he agrees, of course, I signed the contract.” – Roman Dolidze (@romandolidzeufc), May 10, 2024.