UFC 301: Michel Pereira scores wild submission over Ihor Potieria ...
Michel Pereira's shin connected with Ihor Potieria's head at the end of this backflip. (Alexandre Loureiro/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Michel Pereira scored a dramatic first-round submission over Ihor Potieria at UFC 301 Saturday night that was set up with a wild backflip kick to the head as Potieria was sprawled on the ground.
Kicks to the head are illegal in UFC when an opponent is grounded. But officials conferred and ultimately deemed Pereira's performance worthy of a legal win.
The fight didn't last long. Pereira dropped Potieria with a left-right combo to the head less that 40 seconds into the fight. With Potieria on his back, Pereira turned away from his opponent, then launched into an acrobatic back flip that ended with his shin connecting with Potieria's face.
Pereira then stood up Potieria and finished him with a standing guillotine. Potieria tapped out 54 seconds into the first round. He then fell to the mat.
As Pereira celebrated his victory, fight officials met outside the Octagon, presumably to discuss the legality of Pereira's backflip kick.
They ultimately determined that it was legal, and Pereira was declared the winner via submission. They didn't offer an explanation on the broadcast. The contact to the head was glancing, which appeared to sway officials not to disqualify Pereira.
"I still think he's got to learn his lesson from doing backflips and trying to land illegal knees, but looking at the one angle, a lot of it did land on the chest — thank God for him — and I think that's what stopped him from potentially getting DQ'd right here," UFC announcer Paul Felder said on the pay-per-view broadcast.
Play-by-play announcer Jon Anik speculated that officials determined the flip was "legal enough."
"Well, the replay official determined that it was legal enough so Michel Pereira extends his winning streak to eight," Anik said.
The win was indeed Pereira's eighth straight and his 11th in 14 fights. The 30-year-old improved to 31-11 (2 no contests) in his UFC career.
