Alex
Pereira just brings a different kind of savagery to the cage,
and only a select few can withstand it.
The Brazilian juggernaut retained his undisputed
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title, as he
stopped Khalil
Rountree with a hailstorm of punches in the fourth round of
their
UFC 307 headliner on Saturday at the Delta Center in Salt Lake
City. Pereira (12-2, 9-1 UFC) brought it to a close 4:32 into Round
4.
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Rountree (13-6, 9-6 UFC) held his own—for a time. The Syndicate MMA
rep buckled Pereira’s knees with a counter right hand in the second
round and fought fire with fire against one of the most feared men
in the sport. However, the high work rate and the damage he
absorbed took their toll, and by the end of the third round, the
tide had shifted. Pereira tore into the Los Angeles native with
clean punches to the head, low kicks and knee strikes, opened
multiple cuts and showered the canvas and surrounding area with
blood. His final burst of offense with utterly breathtaking.
Pereira ripped the body with hooks from both hands, then buried
“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 23 finalist with a slashing right
uppercut.
Pereira, 37, has won five fights in a row, four of them
finishes.
Meanwhile, Julianna
Pena reclaimed the undisputed UFC women’s bantamweight crown
with a contentious split verdict over Raquel
Pennington in the five-round co-main event. All three members
of the judiciary struck 48-47 scorecards: Michael Bell and Sal
D’Amato for Pena, Derek Cleary for Pennington.
A closely contested first round gave way to a dominant 10-minute
stretch for Pena (12-5, 8-3 UFC). She secured takedowns and
progressed to the back with body triangles in the second and third
rounds, racked up considerable control time and made a pass at a
face crank at one point. Pennington (16-9, 13-6 UFC) answered in
the fourth, where she floored the Sikjitsu product with a counter
right hook, swarmed with follow-up punches and flirted with a
guillotine choke. Pena seemed fatigued and unable to answer in
Round 5. Pennington moved forward with punches, staggered “The
Venezuelan Vixen” yet again and shrugged off a few attempted
clinches. Those efforts ultimately fell short.
The setback was Pennington’s first since she was outpointed by
Holly
Holm in their UFC 246 rematch on Jan. 18, 2020.
Elsewhere, MMA Lab’s Mario
Bautista rode non-stop pressure and a merciless clinch game to
a unanimous decision over former UFC and World Extreme Cagefighting
champion Jose Aldo in a
three-round bantamweight showcase. All three cageside judges scored
it 29-28: Bell and Cleary for Bautista, Chris Lee for Aldo.
The 31-year-old Bautista (15-2, 9-2 UFC) pressed forward behind
body-head combinations and a steady diet of low kicks, often
forcing the Brazilian legend into the fence against his will. Aldo
(32-9, 14-8 UFC) spent far too much time with his back to the cage.
Once in the clinch, Bautista stayed busy with knee strikes to the
leg, shoulder strikes, foot stomps and occasional elbows upstairs.
Aldo opened a cut above the John Crouch disciple’s right eye with a
tight left hook in the second round and traded punches whenever he
found himself in open space. His success, however, proved sporadic.
Bautista crowded him down the stretch, paid no attention to a few
referee restarts and did just enough to get by.
Bautista has now pieced together a seven-fight winning streak.
Further down the card, former two-division Xtreme Knockout
titleholder Kevin
Holland suffered an apparent rib injury during a grappling
exchange with Roman
Dolidze and could not continue in their middleweight feature.
The anticlimactic stoppage was called in between the first and
second rounds.
Holland (26-12, 13-9 UFC) chipped away with jabs, leg kicks and
occasional punching bursts before being taken down by the burly
Georgian. A short-notice substitution for the injured Chris
Curtis, Dolidze (14-3, 8-3 UFC) applied his ground-and-pound
and seemed content to pile up points while shaving time off the
clock. Holland shifted his hips in a bid for an armbar, at which
point he grimaced in pain and retreated into a defensive shell.
Dolidze then turned up the heat and eventually climbed to full
mount, uncorking punches until the horn sounded. After discussing
the situation with Holland, his chief corner elected to call it
off.
The 36-year-old Dolidze has won back-to-back bouts.
Finally, two-time Professional Fighters League champion Kayla
Harrison overcame serious resistance to post a unanimous
decision over Ketlen
Vieira in their three-round women’s bantamweight appetizer. All
three cageside judges scored it for Harrison (18-1, 2-0 UFC):
30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.
Vieira (14-4, 8-4 UFC) exacted some significant damage—she raised a
golf ball-sized hematoma above the American Top Team export’s right
eye with a close-range elbow strike in the middle stanza—but lacked
the tools and wherewithal to keep the two-time Olympic gold
medalist at bay. Harrison executed takedowns in the first and third
rounds, bullied into advantageous positions and unleashed
elbow-laced ground-and-pound on the Andre
Pederneiras protégé. Vieira was virtually powerless once the
action spilled onto the mat.
Harrison, 34, has rattled off three straight victories and appears
to have established herself as the No. 1 contender at 135
pounds.
In preliminary action, Joaquin
Buckley (20-6, 10-4 UFC) wiped out Stephen
Thompson (17-8-1, 12-8-1 UFC) with
a vicious right hand 2:17 into the third round of their featured
welterweight prelim; Iasmin
Lucindo (17-5, 4-1 UFC) was awarded a split verdict over
Marina
Rodriguez (17-5-2, 7-5-2 UFC)—29-28, 28-29, 29-28—in a
three-round women’s strawweight battle; Alexander
Hernandez (15-8, 7-7 UFC) replaced Nate
Landwehr on short notice and eked out a split decision over
Austin
Hubbard (16-8, 4-6 UFC)—27-30, 29-28, 29-28—in a three-round
lightweight tiff; Cesar
Almeida (6-1, 2-1 UFC) laid claim to a unanimous decision over
Ihor
Potieria (20-7, 2-5 UFC) in a three-round middleweight clash,
sweeping the cards with matching 30-27 scores across the board;
Ryan
Spann (22-10, 8-5 UFC) took care of Ovince St.
Preux (27-18, 15-13 UFC) with
a guillotine choke 1:35 into the first round of their light
heavyweight tilt; Court McGee
(22-13, 11-12 UFC) put away Tim Means
(33-17-1, 21-14 UFC) with
a neck crank 3:19 into the first round of their welterweight
pairing; and Tecia
Pennington (14-7, 10-7 UFC) outstruck the retiring Carla
Esparza (19-8, 10-6 UFC) to a unanimous decision in a
three-round women’s strawweight affair, earning 29-28, 29-28 and
30-27 marks from the cageside judges.