Michel Pereira battered and bloodied Zachary Reese en path to a intently contested victory over the middleweight standout at UFC Houston.
Pereira got here out swinging huge early, connecting with a brutal physique kick earlier than sitting down Reese with a nasty proper hand. Nevertheless, the story of the opening spherical was a pair of phantom low blows from Reese. Although the replay appeared to indicate that they had been clear kicks, referee Herb Dean nonetheless awarded Pereira his 5 minutes of restoration time.
Fortuitously, Pereira didn’t want a lot time to get well.
After a tough begin to the combat, Reese appeared to land the extra impactful pictures within the latter half of the spherical. That pattern continued within the second as Pereira gave the impression to be dropping steam.
Following an obvious eye poke from Reese early within the second, the Texas native scored his first takedown of the combat. Pereira shortly scrambled again to his toes and, within the course of, caught Reese with a shot that drew a flood of blood from the American’s nostril.
As each fighters began to lose steam within the third, the tempo started to sluggish. Nonetheless, that didn’t cease them from furiously throwing fingers within the ultimate 10 seconds. With neither fighter touchdown the fight-ending blow, we went to the scorecards for what could be a a lot nearer determination than anticipated.
Official End result: Michel Pereira def. Zachary Reese through cut up determination (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
Verify Out Highlights From Zachary Reese vs. Michel Pereira at UFC Houston:
