Michel Pereira will no longer be competing at Saturday’s UFC Vegas 46 event

UFC welterweight Michel Pereira will no longer be fighting on the UFC Vegas 46 card this weekend due to COVID-19 protocols.

Michel Pereira has been working hard to try and fight this weekend but after great uncertainty, it’s now been confirmed that he’ll next appear at UFC 270 – seven days after he was initially scheduled to compete.

The eccentric Brazilian had been booked to take on Muslim Salikhov before an undisclosed injury forced Salikhov out of the contest. Now, Andre Fialho has been called up to the UFC for the first time to take Salikhov’s place against Pereira.

The hope was that the deal would be done in time for the weekend, but as reported by MMA Fighting, that isn’t going to happen.

Michel Pereira vs. Andre Fialho moved from UFC Vegas 46 to UFC 270 due to COVID-19 protocols, Pereira's conditioning coach Rafael Alejarra told me with further confirmation from @DamonMartin. Story coming to @MMAFighting.

— Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) January 11, 2022

“Michel Pereira vs. Andre Fialho moved from UFC Vegas 46 to UFC 270 due to COVID-19 protocols, Pereira’s conditioning coach Rafael Alejarra told me with further confirmation from @DamonMartin . Story coming to @MMAFighting.”

While it does serve as another reason to tune in and watch UFC 270, it further impacts a UFC Vegas 46 card that has been through wholesale changes.

Alas, it still has a pretty great main event in the form of Giga Chikadze vs Calvin Kattar, and it gives fans another week to find out more about the aforementioned Andre Fialho.

The 27-year-old is currently riding a four-fight knockout streak, all of which went down in 2021, with the most notable being his triumph over former UFC star James Vick. Now, he wants to derail Pereira’s hype train and vault himself into contention at 170 pounds.

What are your thoughts on the current state of this weekend’s card? Do you think Michel Pereira should be viewed as the favourite to defeat Andre Fialho? If the answer is yes, how will he get the job done? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments, BJPENN Nation!