The otherworldly power of Alex
Pereira claimed another victim, this time under the brightest
of all spotlights.
Pereira punched out Jamahal
Hill to retain his undisputed
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight crown in the
first round of their UFC
300 headliner on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Pereira (10-2, 7-1 UFC) tagged his latest challenger’s figurative
toe 3:14 into Round 1.
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Hill (12-2, 6-2 UFC) answered leg kicks from the Brazilian with a
few of his own but provided the champion with no real cause for
concern. Pereira stalked forward behind stabbing jabs to the body,
bided his time and marked his territory with a cold stoicism. He
calmly brushed aside referee Herb Dean after
absorbing an accidental kick to the groin, decked Hill with a left
hook mere seconds later and then pounced with punches and
hammerfists to cap a near-flawless performance.
Meanwhile, Syndicate MMA’s Weili Zhang
waded through considerable difficulty to retain her undisputed
women’s strawweight championship with a unanimous decision over
Team Alpha Male standout Xiaonan Yan
in the five-round co-main event. Zhang (25-3, 9-2 UFC) swept the
scorecards from her countrywoman—it was the first-ever UFC title
fight between Chinese competitors—with matching 49-45 marks from
all three cageside judges.
Yan (18-4, 8-3 UFC) proved herself a worthy contender in defeat,
flooring the off-balance champion on multiple occasions with stout
right hands. However, it was not enough to overcome the discrepancy
in all-around skill. Zhang put her to sleep with a rear-naked choke
as the bell sounded at the end of the first round, only to see the
challenger awake and rise to her feet as soon as she was released.
She had Yan in trouble again in Round 2, where she progressed to
the back, flattened her out and cut loose with punches for another
near finish. Only restraint from referee Jason Herzog allowed the
bout to continue. Zhang fought through fatigue across the final 15
minutes, turning to her grappling over and over again when the
opportunity presented itself. She dragged Yan to the canvas twice
in the fifth round, kept her contained and piled up points with
moderate ground-and-pound.
Zhang has won three fights in a row.
Elsewhere, Max
Holloway capped another sensational performance with a wicked
one-punch, last-second knockout of Justin
Gaethje and claimed the symbolic BMF title in the fifth round
of their unforgettable lightweight showcase. Holloway (26-7, 22-7
UFC) drew the curtain 4:59 into Round 5. Jaws everywhere
dropped.
Gaethje (25-5, 8-5 UFC) ran into trouble right away. Holloway
appeared to break his nose with a spinning back to the face late in
the first round, making it virtually impossible for the former
World Series of Fighting champion to breathe properly.
Nevertheless, Gaethje pressed onward. He hammered away at
Holloway’s lead leg with kicks to the thigh and calf but had no
answer for the Hawaiian’s speed and output. Down on the scorecards,
Gaethje somersaulted forward and attempted a rolling thunder kick
in the waning seconds of Round 5. As he turned to face Holloway, he
was beckoned forward to exchange in the center of the cage. The two
action heroes swung at one another with reckless abandon for the
better part of 10 seconds, until Holloway connected with a
devastating right hook. An unconscious Gaethje faceplanted into the
canvas, as he was on the receiving end of one of the most
spectacular finishes in UFC history.
Holloway will ride a three-fight winning streak into his next
assignment.
Further down the card, ascending American Top Team export Arman
Tsarukyan survived two tight submission attempts from Charles
Oliveira—a guillotine choke in the first round and a brabo
choke in the third—to claim a split decision in their three-round
lightweight attraction. All three judges scored it 29-28: Mike Bell for
Oliveira, Adalaide Byrd and Ron McCarthy for Tsarukyan.
Outside of those two chokes, Oliveira (34-10, 22-10 UFC) struggled
to get his offense in gear. Tsarukyan took top position in all
three rounds and largely neutralized the Brazilian’s notoriously
venomous guard. He peaked in Round 2, where he delivered a takedown
and opened multiple cuts on Oliveira with repeated elbows.
Tsarukyan (22-3, 9-2 UFC) wheeled behind “Do Bronx” in the third
round, connected with arching knee strikes to the body and
weathered the Chute Boxe standout’s bid for a late Hail Mary
choke.
Tsarukyan has rattled off four straight victories.
Finally, American Top Team’s Bo Nickal
took care of Cody
Brundage with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their
middleweight appetizer. Brundage (10-6, 4-5 UFC) conceded defeat
3:38 into Round 2, his modest two-fight winning streak at an
end.
A four-time NCAA All-American wrestler and three-time national
champion at Penn State University, Nickal (6-0, 3-0 UFC) set the
tone in the first round, where he wheeled behind the Factory X rep,
bullied him to the canvas and eventually climbed to full mount.
Brundage withstood his advances and forced the blue-chip prospect
into a second stanza for the first time in his career but only
prolonged the inevitable. Nickal executed a takedown inside the
first minute, advanced to mount yet again and moved to the back,
securing position with a body triangle. After a brief struggle, he
snaked his arms into place for the choke, tightened his squeeze and
prompted the tapout from Brundage.
Nickal, 28, has finished all six of his opponents.
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