Michel Pereira Returns to South Korea for ZFN 5 Bout With In Su Hwang

Michel Pereira's first fight after leaving the UFC will take him back to South Korea, the country where his wild, unpredictable style first caught a wider audience.

Z Fight Night announced that Pereira will face In Su Hwang in a middleweight bout at ZFN 5 on December 19 in Incheon. The promotion is run by former UFC featherweight title challenger Chan Sung Jung, better known as "The Korean Zombie," and the event will stream on UFC Fight Pass.

A return to familiar ground

Pereira is not arriving in South Korea as a stranger. Before his UFC debut, he went 3-0 under the Road FC banner and finished all three opponents. His last two appearances there were especially sharp: a 41-second knockout of Won Jun Choi in December 2018 and a second-round stoppage of Dae Sung Kim in February 2019.

Three months later, Pereira made his UFC debut and knocked out Danny Roberts in the first round. He went on to win 10 of 16 UFC bouts across welterweight and middleweight, beating Khaos Williams, Niko Price, Santiago Ponzinibbio and Michal Oleksiejczuk along the way.

Pereira needs a clean restart

The 33-year-old Brazilian enters this booking with a 32-15 record and two no contests. His final UFC appearance came on June 27, when he lost a unanimous decision to Shara Magomedov in Baku. Pereira later objected to Magomedov grabbing his hair during grappling exchanges without a point deduction, but the official result remained a loss.

That defeat left Pereira with one victory in his final five UFC outings. His split-decision win over Zachary Reese in February interrupted a stretch that also included losses to Anthony Hernandez, Abus Magomedov and Kyle Daukaus. ZFN gives him a new stage, but Hwang is not a soft landing.

Hwang brings real knockout danger

Hwang is 9-2 and has seven knockout or technical knockout wins. The former Road FC middleweight champion fought on Dana White's Contender Series in 2025, losing a decision to Paddy McCorry, then returned home and stopped Bellator and PFL veteran Alex Polizzi in the third round at ZFN's May event.

For Hwang, Pereira is easily the most recognizable name on his record and a chance to beat an opponent with years of UFC experience. For Pereira, the matchup tests whether a move away from the UFC can also stop the slide that marked the end of his run there.

The setting fits both men. Pereira is going back to a market where he once produced three straight finishes. Hwang gets the former UFC headliner on home soil. There is no need to dress this up as a routine comeback fight. It is a hard reset for one fighter and a major opportunity for the other.