Roman Dolidze vs. Michel Pereira Joins June 8 UFC Louisville Event

At UFC on ESPN 57 on June 8, the promotion will be traveling to Louisville, Kentucky, to post up at the KFC Yum! Center. The main event was recently made official, with the reported pairing of Jared Cannonier and Nassourdine Imavov coming together earlier on Thursday. Serving on the main card will a 185-pound scrap between Roman Dolidze (12-3) and Michel Pereira (31-11, 2 NC), as first reported by Eurosport_NL on Thursday. This muscular match has since been confirmed by other outlets.

Dolidze was initially set to battle Anthony Hernandez at UFC 302, but an injury for Hernandez scuttled the pairing. The Georgian was shifted back one week to accommodate for his opponent’s recent fight. He finds himself on his first losing streak of his career, having dropped back-to-back decisions to Marvin Vettori in 2023 and Imavov in 2024. Prior to the losses, the 35-year-old had rattled off four straight wins, including three knockouts, claiming victories over names including Jack Hermansson and Phil Hawes.

Brazil’s Pereira has amassed an eight-fight win streak across two divisions, including three in his new weight class up at 185 pounds. In those three trips to the cage, Pereira prevailed in a combined 3:01, knocking out Andre Petroski and then submitting Michal Oleksiejczuk and Ihor Potieria. In his last outing, the high-flying sportsman landed a knee to a grounded Potieria’s head while performing a back flip to pass guard, and on review the commission determined it did not alter the outcome of the fight.

UFC on ESPN 57 goes down at the KFC Yum! Center on June 8 in Louisville, Kentucky, with a middleweight main attraction recently breaking between Jared Cannonier and Nassourdine Imavov. The lineup has not been finalized to determine the order of the main card, but bouts that featured on it include Dolidze-Pereira, Dominick Reyes vs. Dustin Jacoby at light heavyweight and Raul Rosas Jr. against Ricky Turcios in a rescheduled bantamweight affair.

Reference: https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Roman-Dolidze-vs-Michel-Pereira-Joins-June-8-UFC-Louisville-Event-193635