The Glory kickboxing champion made his return to the MMA world on Friday in the main event of LFA 95 in Park City, Kan., and he wasted no time showing everyone why his fearsome striking is going to be a problem for anyone at 185 pounds.
Squaring off against Thomas Powell (4-5), Pereira landed a clean left hook that left Powell face-down on the canvas, unmoving. It was the first MMA win for Pereira (3-1) since May 2016. “Poatan” is primarily known for his kickboxing exploits, having captured both a middleweight title and an interim light heavyweight title competing for Glory.
The official time of the stoppage was 4:04 into round one.
Pereira, 33, is best known to MMA fans as the fighter who twice defeated current UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in kickboxing. He outpointed Adesanya in their first meeting and then downed “The Last Stylebender” with a highlight-reel left hook when they fought again in March 2017.
Watch the impressive finish from LFA 95 above.
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