- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
- Messages
- 19,688
- Reaction score
- 7,423
I am not what you'd call a "CNN guy," but I check in here and there to see what they're pushing. I went on their website and came across this story on Michel Pereira.
This is an article written by Harmeet Kaur. Dont know who he is, but even if he's barely a fan and was assigned to cover a story from the fight, he got it wrong. It seems like he was shown a short video of Michel's acrobatics in round 1 (which the crowd did appreciate, to be fair), and then wrote a story about it. He did write that Connelly walked away as "champion," so maybe he's not a fan at all. Regardless, this is a botch.
Look at that first paragraph about how he won over the crowd lol.
There's no way this journalist watched this fight. There's no way someone watches that fight and decides to write this story instead of the Connelly story (unless, of course, it was a calculated move that they figured might hurt Trump in some way.)
The mainstream masses with no mma interest would definitely be intrigued by someone doing backflips in a UFC fight- even I am intrigued by it.
Having said that, the mainstream masses would be even more intrigued by one of the best general underdog stories and UFC debuts ever. Furthermore, the crowd was rocking for the hometown hero. He "brought the house down," as they say.
This is an article written by Harmeet Kaur. Dont know who he is, but even if he's barely a fan and was assigned to cover a story from the fight, he got it wrong. It seems like he was shown a short video of Michel's acrobatics in round 1 (which the crowd did appreciate, to be fair), and then wrote a story about it. He did write that Connelly walked away as "champion," so maybe he's not a fan at all. Regardless, this is a botch.
Look at that first paragraph about how he won over the crowd lol.
Michel Pereira was basically flying in his UFC fight against Tristan Connelly
By Harmeet Kaur, CNN
Posted at 1:46 PM ET, Sun September 15, 2019
Michel Pereira is suspended in mid-air during his faceoff against Tristan Connelly at UFC Fight Night in Vancouver on Saturday.
(CNN) — Michel Pereira may have lost to Tristan Connelly at UFC Fight Night in Vancouver on Saturday night, but he certainly won the crowd -- and the internet.
The 25-year-old Brazilian fighter put on a wild show during his fight against 33-year-old Canadian native Connelly, with a performance that featured backflips, superman punches, and flying knees.
Pereira's stunts just barely stopped short of full-on breakdancing and looked more like a gymnastics routine than an MMA fight.
The people watching couldn't get enough.
WHAT IS HAPPENING!?
@UFCPereira is MUST WATCH TV! #UFCVancouver
1,288 people are talking about this
"Pereira is like when you just spam buttons on the controller. That's how he fights," ESPN combat sports reporter Marc Raimondi wrote on Twitter.
Seriously, just look at this cartwheel that evolves into a backflip.
Michel Pereira is out here doing gymnastics routines
9:09 PM - Sep 14, 2019
5,409 people are talking about this
"I don't care what you say. Michel Pereira is a treasure and I will protect him," Fernanda Prates, an MMA writer for The Athletic, wrote.
This is a real photo from a real UFC fight.
9:23 PM - Sep 14, 2019
3,127 people are talking about this
But all those acrobatics caught up to Pereira, and he seemed to run out of energy by the end. Connelly walked away the champion in a unanimous decision.
The theatrics weren't for nothing, though. The faceoff between Pereira and Connelly was crowned Fight of the Night.
Connelly was asked about his own strategy in the face of Pereira's performance.
"You can't stop against him and you can't back up against him," Connelly said at a news conference after the fight. "Those are two things I knew. I knew that he, like ... I've been training with capoeira guys for a long time and they're all like, 'Man, what he's trying to do is get you to freeze so he can hit ya.' So I just knew I had to be in his face."
Connelly also suggested that people shouldn't expect to see him doing backflips anytime soon.
"I knew I wasn't going to do any show like him. I'm a fighter," Connelly said. "Like I said in a couple interviews beforehand, if doing backflips was what I believed important in fighting, I'd be great at backflips, but I couldn't do one to save my life. I practice punching people, choking people and kicking people because that's what seems to work in most of the fights I watch."
There's no way this journalist watched this fight. There's no way someone watches that fight and decides to write this story instead of the Connelly story (unless, of course, it was a calculated move that they figured might hurt Trump in some way.)
The mainstream masses with no mma interest would definitely be intrigued by someone doing backflips in a UFC fight- even I am intrigued by it.
Having said that, the mainstream masses would be even more intrigued by one of the best general underdog stories and UFC debuts ever. Furthermore, the crowd was rocking for the hometown hero. He "brought the house down," as they say.
Last edited: