UFC Vegas 91: Alex Perez defeats Matheus Nicolau with a stunning one-punch knockout

In the main event, Matheus Nicolau and Alex Perez, two UFC flyweight prospects, fight in a five-round match that was called at the last minute. Nicolau hasn’t played since April 2023, when he lost to Brandon Royval. Perez, who took over for Manel Kape in the main event, is trying to get back on track after losing three straight fights.

When Nicolau went back into the cage for the first time in almost a year, he won four fights in a row before facing Brandon Royval, who was recently a title contender.The Brazilian is 19-3-1 overall and 7-2 in the cage. He wants to beat his opponent in Las Vegas to solidify his spot in the top five.

Perez, meanwhile, got back into the cage earlier this year after three failed tries to fight since his loss to the current champion, Alexandre Pantoja. Even though he lost to Muhammad Mokaev, he will have a chance to win again this Saturday against Nicolau. It was planned for the Brazilian to fight Manel Kape again in a repeat of their cancelled fight in January, and for Perez to meet Tagir Ulanbekov in the summer. But when Kape had to drop out, Perez was picked to fill in.

Nicolau is ranked fifth in his class, and Perez is ranked eighth. The class is growing, though, and new fighters are coming up every month. Now is the time for them to reclaim their spot at flyweight.

Alex Perez jumped up the flyweight rankings with a second-round stoppage victory over Matheus Nicolau. Out of the 13 fights on the card, seven were stopped early, including the main event. The other six went the full distance. Five of the seven stoppage wins were by knockout (KO) or technical knockout (TKO), and the other two were by submission.

Perez had a lot on the line after three consecutive losses, but he came out firing like always. He remained in hot pursuit all night, which paid off when he pinned Nicolau against the cage and began firing rounds.

While numerous blows went unanswered, Perez unleashed a devastating right hook that turned Nicolau’s head around and sent him slumping to the mat in a heap. The referee came in to terminate the bout at 2:16 in the second round.

The flyweights moved a lot, but they weren’t very engaged in the first round. Perez was clearly looking for a chance to fire his combos, and Nicolau deserves credit for landing the fight’s first significant hit with a stinging left hand. The former flyweight championship contender did not blink as he continued to return fire. Back-and-forth sniper fire continued into the second round, when Perez executed a stunning game plan, knocking out Nicolau against the cage midway through the round to move into the top five in the UFC flyweight category.

“It feels great. Everyone counted me out because I had three losses. Three weeks’ notice, any time, any place! I don’t get paid to sit on the couch, I get paid to fight. Everyone’s always on me because all I do is train. This is why I do it, because I get an extra $50k, right, for that knockout?” Perez remarked at the post-fight Octagon interview.