In a sport where the term “sniper” is often thrown around too
easily, Alex
Pereira wields a once-in-a-lifetime blend of precision and
power.
In the main event of UFC 303 on Saturday in Las Vegas, light
heavyweight champ Pereira (11-2) met Jiri
Prochazka (30-5-1) in a rematch of their title fight seven
months ago, which the Brazilian won by second-round knockout after
likely losing the first round. In the rematch, the first round was
a surprisingly tentative affair, most likely due to both men now
being fully cognizant of the other’s power. The champ quickly went
to work with the brutal leg kicks that had been effective for him
in their first meeting, and which had given Prochazka trouble in
his subsequent fight against Aleksandar
Rakic as well. Prochazka had some success bouncing into range
and landing single punches, but his attempts to bring the fight to
the floor went nowhere. Nonetheless, the round was a competitive
affair—that is, up to the final seconds, when “Poatan” knocked
Prochazka down with a pinpoint left hook at the horn. The
challenger rose and returned to his stool but was still gathering
his wits a minute later when the next round began. He would not get
the chance. Pereira lanced “Denisa” with a left high kick in the
opening seconds, dropping him in his tracks. He followed up with a
series of absolutely brutal standing-to-ground punches until
referee Herb Dean pulled him off at 13 seconds of Round 2. The
vicious finish ran Pereira’s Octagon record to 8-1, a perfect 4-0
at light heavyweight, and will likely lead to renewed calls for the
36-year-old to test his fortunes at heavyweight, perhaps pursuing
an unprecedented third divisional title. Prochazka fell to 4-2 in
the UFC.
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Diego Lopes, Dan Ige Make Sparks Fly in 11th-Hour Co-Main
Event
In an unprecedented development, the co-main event of UFC 303
changed on fight night to include a fighter who had not previously
been part of the fight card, as the co-main event between Brian
Ortega and Diego
Lopes, which had already been moved from featherweight to
lightweight the day before, fell apart entirely when Ortega fell
ill after Friday’s weigh-ins. Historically, that would have
resulted in a complete cancellation of the bout, but longtime
featherweight fringe contender Dan Ige, a Las
Vegas resident and general badass, stepped up on Saturday. The
result was two featherweight action merchants meeting at a
165-pound catchweight, a matchup that became official when Ige
weighed in on Saturday—alongside Lopes, who was required to make
the new weight limit and came in at 161 pounds.
Once the fight started, Lopes looked to make a fast start,
leveraging his height, reach and speed against his
ultra-late-notice foe. Ige was game and composed, however, and
while he did not match the Brazilian’s furious output, he made it
through the first four minutes without suffering too much damage
aside from the effects of Lopes’ hard leg kicks. Lopes made things
interesting late in Round 1, jumping on a front headlock, cinching
up a brabo choke and rolling for the finish. Ige survived and
escaped, but it cemented a solid round for Lopes. Lopes went back
to work with the low kicks in the second frame and, same as in the
first, hauled Ige to the ground at the first opportunity, taking
the Hawaiian’s back and working for a rear-naked choke. Ige fought
off the choke attempts, but his own offense for the rest of the
round was limited to punches thrown over his shoulder—even if some
of those were surprisingly effective—while Lopes held onto the
dominant position and peeled off for an armbar in the closing
seconds.
Knowing he must be trailing on the scorecards going into the final
round, Ige came out swinging hard, marching forward with
disciplined aggression and trying to land the strike, or
combination of strikes, that might turn defeat into victory. He had
his moments, including a right hand that appeared to freeze Lopes
for a second, but Lopes blunted Ige’s momentum with a brutal kick
to Ige’s already compromised legs. Ige regrouped, marched forward
again and rocked Lopes with another salvo of punches, and the
suddenly tired-looking Brazilian shot for a takedown. After an
extended wrestling sequence, Ige landed on top, but as Lopes closed
his guard and controlled Ige’s posture, it appeared to be a won
battle that might have lost Ige the war. Lopes made it to the final
horn and picked up the well-deserved decision via unanimous 29-28
scores. The win brought Lopes’ record to 25-6 overall and 4-1 in
the UFC with four straight wins since his debut as a replacement
foe for Top 10 contender Movsar
Evloev. Ige fell to 18-8, 9-7 in the UFC, but otherwise lost
nothing by stepping up on short notice and added to his reputation
as one of the true “anyone, anytime, anywhere” fighters of his
era.
Dolidze Pummels Smith in Short-Notice Clash
The originally scheduled UFC 303 co-main event between Jamahal
Hill and Khalil
Rountree Jr. fell victim to a cascade of injuries and other
withdrawals that had fighter names spinning through like a slot
machine. The tumblers finally came to a stop on a matchup of two
late replacements in Anthony
Smith and Roman
Dolidze, who met in the light heavyweight feature bout. The two
threw caution to the wind in Round 1, choosing instead to take
turns blasting each other with leg kicks and glancing combinations
of power punches. Smith may have edged out a close round by
checking a few more kicks than Dolidze, staying mobile, and
refusing to concede the clinch or be backed into the cage. The
Georgian took control of things early in the second frame, however,
pursuing Smith to the floor off of a partial slip and hammering him
with ground strikes. Smith covered up and regained his wits, but
Dolidze remained stuck to him, continuing to punish him with
punches at the base of the fence—blows that, blocked or not,
clearly took a toll. Whether he was behind on the cards or tied 1-1
going into the final round, Smith was clearly the more tired and
damaged fighter, but his trademark “Lionheart” will was on display,
and the result was a razor-close five minutes during which the two
fatigued fighters both had moments of effective offense. The
cageside judges saw the action more unambiguously in favor of
Dolidze, who picked up the win by 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 scores.
Dolidze, who stepped up from middleweight to the division in which
he first made a splash on his arrival in the UFC, moved to 13-3
overall, 7-3 in the Octagon, while Smith fell to 38-20 (13-10
UFC).
Chiasson Slices Up Bueno Silva
A pivotal women’s bantamweight bout turned from a chess match to a
bloodbath in an instant, as Macy
Chiasson cut Mayra
Bueno Silva wide open with a brutal second-round elbow strike.
Round 1 was characterized by kickboxing exchanges at distance in
which both women had notable success—especially Silva (10-4-1, 1
NC; 5-4-1, 1 NC UFC), who caught Chiasson (10-3, 8-3 UFC) with a
spinning wheel kick to the head—punctuated by long clinch sequences
against the fence where neither was able to do much damage. Once
the second round began, however, what was shaping up as an
intriguing clash was short-circuited within seconds, as Chiasson
scored with a trip takedown, landed in the Brazilian’s guard and
dropped a left elbow strike that split Silva’s forehead directly
above the right eyebrow. They continued to fight with no
interruption, with Silva briefly even threatening with an armbar,
but it quickly became obvious just how severe the cut was. Referee
Chris Tognoni called for a timeout so that the cageside physician
could inspect the injury. Despite Silva’s strenuous objections, the
doctor advised Tognoni to end the fight, and the result went down
as a TKO at 1:58 of Round 2. Chiasson’s second win in a row at
bantamweight left her at 7-1 in that division since joining the UFC
as the featherweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 28,
and with her weight difficulties apparently in the past, the sky
appears to be the limit for the 32-year-old Louisianan. Silva, who
came to Saturday’s bout from her unsuccessful attempt to win the
vacant belt against Raquel
Pennington last year, has now lost two in a row and faces an
uphill climb back to another title shot.
Undefeated Garry Slips Past “MVP”
In the main card opener, two of the more intriguing talents and
bigger personalities in the UFC welterweight division clashed, with
26-year-old Irish phenom Ian Garry
(15-0) meeting recent Bellator
MMA acquisition Michael
Page. While there was certainly fan anticipation regarding the
matchup of Page’s dazzling standup arsenal against Garry’s more
conventional but undeniably effective kickboxing, Garry
circumvented the striking duel by catching a kick and taking “MVP”
down within the first minute or so. From there, he quickly moved to
Page’s back, locking up a body triangle and attempting to choke him
out for the balance of the round. Page was badly outmatched on the
ground but was very game, surviving to the end of the round by
fighting off several rear-naked chokes and even throwing punches
over his shoulder. Page came back sharp in Round 2, escaping a
questionable leglock attempt from the Irishman and catching him
with several blisteringly fast punch combinations. With the fight
likely standing at a round apiece, the welterweight sensations
combined to serve up a wild, hard-to-score five minutes. Page
appeared to get the best of the early striking, and landed in
Garry’s guard off of a blown takedown attempt by “The Future,” but
Garry swept Page and took his back standing, where he sank his
hooks but was unable to do much but hang on as the Brit tried to
shake him over the top. The fight went to the judges, who scored it
unanimously for Garry (29-28, 29-28, 29-28), his eighth straight
win since joining the UFC out of
Cage Warriors Fighting Championship a little over three years
ago. Page’s loss leaves the 37-year-old 1-1 in his new promotion
and blunts the momentum of his debut win over Kevin
Holland at UFC 299 in March.
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UFC 303 Prelims: Joe Pyfer Buries Marc-Andre Barriault