Jiří Procházka was very concerned about magic and spirits headed into the UFC 303 main event. Maybe the supernatural force he should have been worried about was Alex Pereiras left hook.
Just like their first meeting last fall, Poatan came away the winner with a second-round knockout on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Only this time the UFC light heavyweight champ made it look easy and decisive.
After methodically picking away at Procházka for most of the first frame, Pereira dropped the challenger with a left hook right at the horn. Procházka managed to rise and wobble to his corner between rounds, but he never seemed to fully recover his wits. A head kick to start the second round put him back on the mat, and a few mostly unnecessary follow-up punches from Pereira removed all doubt.
2024 IS POATAN’S YEAR #UFC303 | @AlexPereiraUFC pic.twitter.com/vTirPPquGY
UFC (@ufc) June 30, 2024
For Pereira, this seemed like easy work. In under four years with the UFC, hes won titles in two different weight classes. Hes beaten just about everybody worth discussing at light heavyweight and has now taken to casually discussing a move up to heavyweight, where he could very realistically chase an unprecedented third UFC title.
The only problem is the murky waters up at the top of that division. Current champ Jon Jones is recovering from a torn pectoral and has stubbornly refused to even consider any title challenger other than former champ Stipe Miocic, who is 41 and hasnt won a fight in nearly four years. Interim heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall has a bout already booked with Curtis Blaydes next month at UFC 304 in Manchester, which means were all supposed to pretend its not weird to have a guy defending the interim belt while the actual belt remains far away.
Meanwhile, theres Pereira. The only reasonable opponent left for him at 205 pounds is Magomed Ankalaev. And hey, no offense, but I couldnt even type that last sentence without yawning. Itd be a fine fight, Im sure. It would probably provide further tests of Pereiras overall game. It just wouldnt be the kind of thing anyone (outside of the Ankalaev family) would really get excited about.
The trajectory Pereira is on right now is truly some superstar stuff. The man has been a rocket ship since signing with the UFC, and somehow it feels like hes still just getting started. It would be a crime to deny that man the chance to chase a whole new stratosphere of greatness. Who knows, a third UFC title might even get him to crack a smile.
Pause for a moment and appreciate the week Diego Lopes just had. He was on weight and dead asleep at four in the morning when his manager woke him up to tell him Brian Ortega wouldnt make 145 pounds. So OK, Lopes told him, hed fight the guy at 155 pounds. Then Ortega fell all the way out of the fight and Lopes said hed go ahead and fight Dan Ige at a catchweight instead. Thats a guy whos down to scrap. Against whom and at what weight are mere details.
I know Mayra Bueno Silva was mad that the referee stopped her bout with Macy Chiasson due to a cut. Thats a tough way to lose. But when you hear an arena full of people gasp at the sight of your facial wound when its shown on the big screen, thats a sign that it might be time to call it a night.
Roman Dolidze and Anthony Smith almost convinced me that the UFC shouldnt have tried so hard to keep a light heavyweight undercard fight on this lineup. The original plan was two completely different 205-pounders. Then it changed and changed again and we wound up with a fight that had no clear stakes and not a whole lot of motivation on either side. Sometimes maybe the thing to do when a fight falls apart is to let it go?
Joe Pyfer needed a big bounce-back win. He got it, seemingly with ease, then took aim at the haters Im not entirely convinced he actually has. Fans can be fickle. Especially when the hype train is still pulling out of the station, it doesnt take much to convince people to jump off. Pyfers loss to Jack Hermansson could have been a necessary step in his ongoing growth. Theres still room to grow some more, though.
Payton Talbott just showed us what a -2000 favorite actually looks like. When you show up as one of the biggest betting favorites in UFC history, its tough to do something that feels worthy of that. Tough, but not impossible. Talbott needed all of 19 seconds to starch Yanis Ghemmouri. And honestly? He didnt really even need all 19 of those seconds. The future is bright, but a step up in difficulty level is probably coming soon.
Quick day in the office for @PaytonTalbott #UFC303 pic.twitter.com/94IEHf5zuH
UFC (@ufc) June 30, 2024
Ian Machado Garry now has eight wins in the UFC, but not many recent highlights. He dismissed Michael Venom Page as an overhyped can-crusher before this event, then just barely held on to beat him. An ungenerous interpretation of Garrys run so far might suggest that he really only looks great when hes up against lower-tier competition. Which, ironically, is exactly the criticism he leveled against MVP. The difference is that Garry is still just 26, so theres lots of time left on the clock. After the last couple forgettable decision wins, however, you can feel peoples patience beginning to wear a little thin.