Michel Periera began his MMA career fighting in regional promotions of his native state of Brazil, Pará, as well as 300 Sparta, amassing a professional record of 9-3 with notable wins over the veterans Daziel da Silva Jr. and Silmar Nunes. These early wins earned a chance to fight with the bigger promotions, such as Jungle Fight and XFC. In his first fight and only fight with Jungle Fight he faced Junior Orgulho. He won by a unanimous decision. His next fight was a loss versus Junior de Oliveira with Iron Man CF. After a win against Caio Robson, Michel Pereira earned a contract with XFC. Fighting on the prelims of XFC International 7, Pereira faced Geraldo Coelho. Responding to his opponents pressure with clinching and a takedown, Periera ended the fight in the third round by way of a guillotine choke. His next fight was on the prelims of XFC International 9, during which he faced Cairo Rocha. With various techniques such as wheel kicks and flying knees, Michel earned a victory though a unanimous decision. These two victories gave him a main even fight against Carlston Harris, which Pereira lost through a unanimous decision. Following this Pereira fought with various promotions during which he lost a decision against Abubakar Vagaev, Ismael de Jesus and Kurbanjiang Tuluosibake, while also netting wins against Stanley Barbosa by way of an arm triangle choke, as well decisions against Renato Gomes and Cristiano Estela Rios.
Serbian Battle Championship and Road FC
With a 16-8 record earned him a chance to fight for the vacant SBC Welterweight Championship against Luka Strezoski at SBC 15. Pereira won a majority decision. Pereira defended his title against Laerte Costa at SBC 17, winning in the fifth minute of the first round by a rear naked choke. Following a no contest bout at Arena Fight against Carlos Pereira, during which his opponent got injured due to a cage malfunction, Pereira fought against Ryul Kim at HEAT 42. He won the bout by TKO. He won his next fight against Hae Jun Yang via TKO and his KO victories against Won Jun Choi and Dae Sung Kim, get him a UFC contract. During this time he suffered the only KO loss of his career, while challenging Duško Todorović at SBC 19 for the SBC Middleweight Belt.
Perira's first fight in the UFC was scheduled for 18 May 2019 at UFC Fight Night 152 against Danny Roberts Periera began the fight with a counter right hook, which was followed by an attempted showtime kick, a rolling thunder and a superman punch. Periera won the fight by a jumping knee, ending the fight after less then two minutes. Periera was awarded a Performance of the Night award. Periera's next fight was scheduled for UFC Fight Night 158 against Sergey Khandozhko. Sergey would face visa issues and was replaced by the Canadian Tristan Connelly Pereira missed weight by 2 pounds. He lost a unanimous decision against a smaller opponent fighting on a short notice. MMA Junkie would pick this fight as their "Upset of the Year". The fight was awarded a Fight of the Nightaward, for which Periera was ineligible as he missed weight, which meant Periera forfeited 30% of his purse, as well as his $50,000 share of the FOTN award Pereira's third UFC opponent was Diego Sanchez whom he faced at UFC Fight Night 167 on 15 February 2020. Pereira dominated Sanchez for most of the fight, but was disqualified for hitting Sanchez with an illegal knee while he was grounded. Pereira is scheduled to face Zelim Imadaev on September 5, 2020 at UFC Fight Night 177.
