Michel Pereira claims that illegal knee never hit Diego Sanchez in the head

By Cole Shelton - February 18, 2020

Michel Pereira doesn’t believe that his knee collided with the head of Diego Sanchez this past Saturday.

Michel Pereira

At UFC Rio Rancho, Pereira was looking to return to the win column against Sanchez. After dominating the opening two rounds of the fight, Pereira threw a knee that appeared to hit Sanchez in the head while he was grounded. The referee ruled the strike was illegal, and because Sanchez couldn’t continue, he was awarded the DQ win.

The Brazilain is still fuming over the loss and recently went on a Twitter rant to claim that his knee hit Sanchez’s chest.

“That was the knee that opened the cut on his forehead, the other knee took the chest,” Pereira tweeted.

As he circles in the tweet, Michel Pereira believes the knee hit the chest and the cut Sanchez sustained was from a knee that occurred seconds before the fight hit the mat. It is hard to tell whether or not the knee hit the head, and given the fact it is a picture, you can’t tell if the knee had hit it before or after where Pereira circles.

Regardless, Pereira was not happy Diego took the DQ win, which Sanchez said was a smart, veteran move. But, the Brazilian has said the UFC veteran is a chicken for not continuing.

With the DQ loss, Pereira is now 1-2 in the UFC and on a two-fight losing streak as he lost to Tristan Connelly in a major upset in the fight before. In his Octagon debut, he knocked out Danny Henry is highlight reel fashion.

Diego Sanchez, meanwhile, returned to the win column after he lost to Michael Chiesa at UFC 239. Before that, he had TKO’d Mickey Gall and beat Craig White by decision. He improved to 30-12 with the win.

Do you think Michel Pereira’s knee never hit Diego Sanchez in the head at UFC Rio Rancho as he suggests? Sound off in the comment section, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 2/18/2020. 


Topics:

Diego Sanchez Michel Pereira UFC