Las Vegas: Brazilian Alex Pereira scored a stunning first round knockout victory on Magomed Ankalaev to reclaim the UFC Light Heavyweight title on Saturday night on UFC 320, with Merab Dvalishvili retaining his Bantamweight Crown in the CO-Main event.
The 38-year-old Pereira, who lost the title of Ankalaev through a unanimous decision in March, wasted no time by haunting his Russian opponent when the two met in their Rematch in the T-Mobile-Arena, who ran forward from the opening bell.
Pereira hurt his opponent with a thunderous right hand and while Ankalaev tried to struggle, the Brazilian followed him to the ground and raining strikes to the head and the body that referee Herb Decan forced to intervene and stop the fight after a minute and 20 seconds of the first round.
“Revenge is never a good thing. It is a kind of poison. I told everyone that I was not in good condition last time, nobody believed it,” said Pereira in an interview after the fight. “I don’t like to apologize, but I said that I wasn’t good that night (of the first fight), but tonight I’m very good.”
The Brazilian brought tribute to the former NFL -Linebacker Arthur Jones, brother of former UFC champion Jones, who died on Friday and observed a moment of silence before leaving the cage.
In the Co-Main event, Georgia’s Dvalishvili used a ruthless wrestling attack to surpass Sandhagen on the way to a unanimous decision victory on the American when he insured his third successful title defense since he won the title for the first time in September 2024.
The most expected action of the main map started with a light heavyweight war between Procazka and Khalil Rountree Jr. With a loss probably in the third, Prochazka landed a devastating combination that took Rountree cold with two minutes over the clock.
Rountree received an early advantage by landing several series of bowel combinations in the first round, whereby Procazka clearly stumbled in the second. The stock markets also tired rowree, giving Procazka a chance to find a window with his explosion on the third round.
Youssef Zwallal (18-5-1) quickly made work by Josh Emmett (19-6) in the second fight of the main map, as a result of which the 40-year-old verbal via Armbar 1:38 forced the T-Mobile Arena-Mermey to tap.
It was not immediately clear why the featherweight hunters were separated until the repetition was shown. The awareness of what happened was dismissing of a pro-Emmett-Mermany that moments were previously busy with “US” hymns. The finish marked the fifth straight victory of Zalal.
Joe Pyfer opened the main map with a second round of entry victory on Abus Magomedov and provided a successful ceremony choke at 1:44 in the second round. Magomedov dominated the first, but Pyfer dropped Magomedov with a combination to start the second and almost let him tap with an arm triangle before locking the Finisher.
