Alex Pereira is beginning to seem like the UFC’s most unstoppable power, as Jiří Procházka can as soon as once more testify.
The UFC gentle heavyweight champion defended his belt towards the previous title-holder with a brutal leg kick to the top, getting the KO with a couple of extra blows on the bottom and leaving Procházka barely acutely aware after the battle was referred to as.
It was a repeat of the ending of the primary spherical, when Pereira leveled Procházka with a tough left with a superb second remaining. Had there been quite a lot of seconds left, the battle would have been over then and there.
The 2 fighters entered the bout with some quite odd drama. In an interview the week of the battle, Procházka claimed Pereira obtained an unfair benefit via “magic,” or quite the champion’s pre-fight rituals which contact on his indigenous heritage.
He requested Pereira not use such rituals, which Pereira emphatically declined. It was with that historical past the 2 males, each identified for his or her private gravity, walked in and stared one another down for almost 5 minutes earlier than the battle.
It’s now wanting like 2024 shall be remembered as Pereira’s 12 months. He landed the principle occasion on the promotion’s stacked UFC 300 card and lived up-to-the-minute with a first-round knockout of Jamahal Hill, which might have been the second of the night time had it not been for Max Holloway going berserker.
In UFC 303, Pereira and Procházka stepped in on two-and-a-half weeks’ discover after Conor McGregor withdrew from the beforehand scheduled essential occasion towards Michael Chandler resulting from a damaged pinky toe. Irrespective of the end result, Pereira would have obtained appreciation from UFC president Dana White. However to defend his belt in emphatic style towards one of the vital harmful fighters within the division, that’s stuff that makes you the next kind of champion.
The query now’s what’s subsequent for Pereira, who has taken over a beforehand chaotic division with wins over three former champs in Procházka, Hill and Jan Blachowicz. He might nonetheless face Magomed Ankalaev who has an excellent argument that he was robbed of the belt in a controversial draw with Blachowicz, however he additionally mentioned via an interpreter he intends to maneuver as much as heavyweight, with an opportunity at changing into the UFC’s first three-division champion.
“I feel that is in my future. I mentioned that the final time I used to be right here. I mentioned it rather a lot, there did not appear to be an excessive amount of curiosity within the group, however I am right here, I am out there and I do assume that is in my future.”
The battle ended one of the vital logistically chaotic playing cards in UFC historical past, through which the co-main occasion needed to be reworked 4 completely different instances. The results of that battle was Diego Lopes defeating Dan Ige, who stepped in on 4 hours’ discover.
Here is how each battle performed out by way of Yahoo Sports activities:
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