Alex Pereira continued adding to his legacy with a second-round knockout of Jiri Prochazka to defend his light-heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 303 Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Prochazka was saved by the bell after being dropped by a left hook in the final seconds of the first round, however Pereira dropped his opponent with a head kick and the fight was over just 13 seconds into the second round.
This 205-pound championship matchup replaced the previous headliner between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler. It was a rematch of the UFC 295 main event this past November during which Pereira also stopped Prochazka with strikes in the second round.
There was a dramatic opponent switch for Diego Lopes mere hours before the night’s co-main event as Dan Ige replaced Bran Ortega who was dealing with an illness and was not medically cleared to fight. Ige and Lopes competed in a 165-pound catchweight bout despite both being ranked featherweights.
Lopes ended up winning a unanimous decision by taking the first two rounds on all scorecards before Ige made a late push in the third and final round.
Ian Machado Garry improved to 15-0 in MMA and 8-0 in the UFC with a unanimous decision victory over Michael “Venom” Page in the opening bout of the pay-per-view main card.
Also at the event, Macy Chiasson defeated Mayra Bueno Silva via doctor’s stoppage due to a deep laceration over Bueno Silva’s right eye, and middleweight Roman Dolidze won a unanimous decision over Anthony Smith in a short notice light-heavyweight contest.
Joe Pyfer, Payton Talbott and Jean Silva all picked up highlight knockout wins during preliminary action.
