| Tale of the Tape | Aline Pereira |
Smilla Sundell
|
|---|---|---|
| Record | 3-2 | 2-0 |
| Age | 35 | 21 |
| Height | 5’9″ | 5’10” |
| Reach | 70.0″ | 69.3″ |
| Hometown | São Paulo, Brazil |
Stockholm, Sweden
|
| Combined Opp. Record | 8-6 | 7-8 |
| Gym | Teixeira MMA & Fitness | |
| Championships | N/A | N/A |
Shawn Bitter- We all knew Pereira would eventually get a UFC opportunity. Being Alex Pereira’s sister matters more than what she’s shown in the cage. Sundell, on the other hand, has real potential. She’s only 21 compared to Pereira at 36. Still, they’re doing Sundell a disservice here. She’s only had two MMA fights and hasn’t competed in a year. She makes up for it with a highly successful Muay Thai background. Pereira has a strong kickboxing background, but despite less MMA experience, Sundell has shown more. Neither fighter will look to wrestle, so it comes down to who starts striking first.
Pereira has the size, reach, and power, but she struggles to maintain distance. She has some good kicks, a powerful left hand, and a decent one-two, but her volume is low, and she’s easily pushed backward. She also lacks killer instinct, having zero finishes. Sundell’s striking has translated beautifully to MMA. She’ll press forward, throw volume, and mix up her targets. Pereira is easy to back against the cage, and that’s a dangerous place to be against a Muay Thai specialist like Sundell. I expect Sundell to do serious damage with short punches, knees, and elbows to the head and body. Sundell will eventually struggle against a good wrestler, though her sprawl and ability to fight for underhooks are promising. She still needs to widen her base, but that’s not a concern here. I have Sundell winning by unanimous decision.
Cedric Dumas- This is a bizarre booking for Dana White’s Contender Series.
Sundell is one of the best female strikers on the planet, and what she has already accomplished at 21 is remarkable. The problem is that she is still extremely young, both as a fighter and as an MMA prospect. Throwing her into the UFC pipeline this early feels more like a business decision than a developmental one.
Across from her is Pereira, the sister of Poatan, who is 36 and does not project as a meaningful long-term UFC prospect at this stage. The obvious read is that the UFC wants to attach a recognizable name to Sundell while getting ahead of MVP MMA. If Sundell was already fielding offers, the promotion had an incentive to make its move before she became even harder to acquire or match.
As a fight, this should largely resemble a kickboxing contest, and Sundell has the clear striking advantage. Pereira’s path is to use her experience, make the fight ugly, and force Sundell to deal with the less predictable parts of MMA.
That still leaves the UFC with a questionable outcome either way. Sign Pereira, and there is little obvious long-term upside. Sign Sundell, and you have a very green MMA prospect who may still need considerable development before being thrown into the UFC roster.
For me, Sundell’s youth and inexperience are the only things keeping this from being a complete mismatch.
Pick: Sundell by Decision
Nicholas Holt- Yeah, I’m not too keen on this bout. Aline Pereira simply hasn’t fought at a high enough level to warrant a DWCS opportunity, while Smilla Sundell is only 2-0 in her professional MMA career.
Sundell is a legit prospect, but entering the UFC this early could hurt her development more than it helps. I’d much rather see her gain some more experience before making the jump. However, she should overwhelm Pereira on the feet with relative ease.
Pick: Sundell by Round 2 KO/TKO
Xavi Ryder- I feel like this fight is a secret set-up fight. Most of the general audience will see Alex Pereira’s sister fighting on Contender Series and assume she’s the same caliber as him. However, she isn’t, and Sundell is going to style her in the cage. This opportunity could be too early for Sundell, as she is only 2-0 in MMA, but Pereira cannot use the aspects of MMA that might trouble her. Sundell is going to put crazy volume and body work on Pereira before finding a mid-to-late-round finish.
Pick: Sundell by Round 2 KO/TKO
Drew Beaupre- We all know why Pereira is here, and while I don’t really mind her being brought on for DWCS, I do take issue with the fact that they’re also rushing Sundell along just to give the Brazilian a striker with a similar amount of MMA experience.
That being said, Sundell has shown considerably more promise through two MMA fights than Pereira has displayed across her five outings. Expectations were already high for “The Hurricane” when she made the move to MMA after leaving ONE Championship, and her two finishes with Tuff-N-Uff only helped to increase the hype around her.
Pereira has power, but she also gets backed up easily and will face a varied onslaught of strikes from Sundell, who hopefully will be brought into the UFC slowly, given the major questions around her ground game.
Pick: Sundell by Round 3 KO/TKO
Cangrejo Ruiz- Smilla is a great striker and a welcome addition to the bantamweight division, which is in dire need of new blood. Pereira is Poatan’s sister.
Pick: Sundell by Round 1 KO/TKO
Benjamin Keith- What a meme fight. A towering, underdeveloped striker gets a shot because her brother is a megastar. An inexperienced phenom getting a shot too early because the UFC rightfully worried about her getting scooped up by the competition. I’d be shocked if this fight his the ground, and Sundell should have the array of strikes to win here.
Pick: Sundell by Round 2 KO/TKO
