Muslim Salikhov, Michel Pereira Throw Down at UFC Fight Night Event on Jan. 15

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Two high-flying Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweights will go at it on the first card of next year.

On Thursday, Michel Pereira’s (26-11, 2 NC) coach told MMA Fighting that Pereira would be facing Muslim Salikhov (18-2) at the UFC Fight Night card on Jan. 15. The two will likely go at it inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Pereira has since confirmed the matchup on his Instagram.

Since his unsuccessful debut in 2017, Salikhov has rattled off five wins over the last four years. Two knockouts of Ricky Rainey and Nordine Taleb springboarded “The King of Kung Fu” into matchups with Laureano Staropoli, Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos and Francisco Trinaldo. The fighter out of Dagestan won all three of those by decision, giving him the second, third and fourth decision victories of his career. Salikhov now celebrates a stoppage rate of 78% after three straight wins on the scorecards.

Pereira has won his last three since late 2020, with a one-sided shellacking of Zelim Imadaev starting a win streak that led to decision wins over Kalinn Williams and Niko Price. The trio of victories ended a two-bout skid where he fell short to Tristan Connelly after missing weight, and then disqualified himself by illegally kneeing Diego Sanchez late into their bout. Although he has a penchant for flying, spinning and other high-risk strikes, “Demolidor” only posts a knockout rate of 38% in a career that began nearly a decade ago.

The unnumbered UFC Fight Night event on Jan. 15 will be capped off by a featherweight battle between Calvin Kattar and Giga Chikadze in Las Vegas at the UFC Apex. The expected co-main event is a women’s flyweight tilt pitting former title challengers Katlyn Chookagian and Jennifer Maia against one another in a rematch. Other matches that may be featured higher on the card include a flyweight scrap between Brandon Royval and Rogerio Bontorin, as well as a middleweight brawl when Joaquin Buckley faces Abdul Razak Alhassan.