Prior to his first headliner, Pereira’s last defeat came in a welterweight bout he absolutely dominated.

On Feb. 15, 2020, Michel Pereira battled the first-ever ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ winner Diego Sanchez in his backyard of Alburquerque, New Mexico, in what is regarded as one of the strangest UFC fights of all time.

Before the fight began, ‘Demolidor’ performed a breakdancing routine while the announcer introduced him.

For Sanchez’s intro, the 38-year-old UFC veteran walked towards Pereira with his hands on his hips, popping bubbles in his mouth as the referee backed him away from his opponent.

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Michel Pereira used Diego Sanchez for target practice

Two seconds after the bell sounded, Sanchez front-flipped for a rolling thunder kick that barely missed Pereira. It was all downhill for Sanchez from there.

12 years older, Sanchez was one step behind Pereira on the feet with the Brazilian spamming bruising kicks to the body. Pereira would open up his arsenal of strikes with an Anthony Pettis ‘Showtime Kick’ off the cage and a flying knee for good measure.

Meanwhile, Sanchez flipped into another rolling thunder kick that missed.

After a tough first round, Sanchez was told by his one-man corner and then-guru Joshua Fabia that he had won the opening round on points despite being massively outgunned.

In round 2, Pereira stung Sanchez with kicks to the body and a right cross that got his attention. Pereira lured in Sanchez to the cage before using it to spring off his back foot to land a sporadic combo of strikes.

“I’ve known Diego for a long period of time, this is just very strange for me,” coach-analyst Trevor Wittman said of Sanchez’s performance in between rounds.

“I don’t see what’s going on right here. For me it’s hard to watch.”

“This guy’s so much bigger than him. He’s massive,” UFC commentator Daniel Cormier said of Pereira.

“So much bigger, so much more explosive. So many things,” Wittman said.

“I’ve never seen anyone foam from the mouth. I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve never seen it,” Wittman said of Sanchez.

How in the world did Michel Pereira lose after strong start?

Pereira’s attacks really started to wear on Sanchez’s body in the final round which saw Pereira showboating at the beginning, not even looking at his opponent while standing firm in the center of the Octagon.

Landing a takedown on Sanchez, Pereira got up to his feet to do a backflip on his grounded opponent (he nearly got disqualified for this move in a previous fight).

Not long after that, Pereira pursued the finish with massive knees to the body and to the head of Sanchez.

Pereira sat down Sanchez with a knee to the body and a likely few strikes away from the stoppage, Sanchez received an illegal knee to the head while he was grounded, opening up a cut on his forehead with blood trickling out.

The referee paused the contest, bringing in the doctor to check on Sanchez. After a few minutes, Sanchez said he could not continue with referee Jason Herzog disqualifying the dominant Pereira for the illegal knee.

Diego Sanchez got the win at home but not in the way he wanted. This was Sanchez’s final victory in his his 44-fight career. The Albuquerque-native won the premier season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ at middleweight, defeating Kenny Florian back in 2005.

As for Michel Pereira, the exciting striker is 8-1 since his DQ loss and returns at UFC Kansas City next weekend against middleweight Abus Magomedov.