Michel Pereira has reportedly signed with Z Fight Night, the South Korean promotion run by Chan Sung Jung, better known as the Korean Zombie, and a Korean outlet says his first opponent will be Hwang In-su in December.
Brazilian journalist Laerte Viana broke the signing on X on Oct. 27. Writing in Portuguese, Viana said that after seven years in the UFC, Pereira had settled on his next step and signed with ZFN, with a debut planned for December.
A day later, MK Sports reporter Kang Dae-ho added the matchup. According to MK Sports, Pereira will face Hwang at ZFN 05 on Dec. 19 at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium, a venue that seats 6,858.
Neither ZFN nor Pereira has publicly announced the bout.
A return to where it started
The move takes Pereira back to the country that launched him. MK Sports notes he opened his Road FC run with three straight wins before earning his way to the UFC, and that he has repeatedly thanked South Korea for making him a big leaguer.
Hwang brings his own history with Road FC. The 32-year-old is a former Road FC middleweight champion who trains at Korean Zombie MMA, and he came up short on Dana White’s Contender Series in September 2025, losing a unanimous decision. Kang wrote that a win over Pereira could give Hwang an immediate route back to the UFC.
ZFN events stream on UFC Fight Pass worldwide outside Latin America, per MK Sports, which describes it as the first and only Korean MMA promotion carried by the service.
The money behind the move
Kang also reported the business side. According to MK Sports, Pereira’s final UFC contract paid between $100,000 and $150,000 before bonuses, and he wanted a little more than that to come back to Korea, seeking upward of 200 million won (roughly $150,000). His agent also approached Croatia’s FNC before the ZFN deal came together.
The final terms of his ZFN contract have not been reported.
Pereira went 10-6 across 16 UFC appearances after debuting in 2019 and was ranked at both welterweight and middleweight during his run.
The last stretch was rough. He lost to Anthony Hernandez and Abus Magomedov, was knocked out by Kyle Daukaus in 43 seconds in August 2025, edged Zachary Reese by split decision in February, then dropped a unanimous decision to Shara Magomedov at UFC Baku on June 27. That fight was the last of his UFC contract.
