ALEX PEREIRA DEFENDS UFC WORLD TITLE WITH SECOND KO WIN OVER JIRI PROCHAZKA

Alex Pereira defended his light-heavyweight world title by KO'ing Jiri Prochazka in their UFC 303 rematch.

Pereira and Prochazka were fighting for the second time after Conor McGregor pulled out of his comeback fight at the event because of a broken toe. McGregor was scheduled to fight Michael Chandler at UFC 303 but his return has been pushed back until later this year because of his injury.

The light-heavyweight rivals had already fought before as Pereira KO'd the Czech last November to become a two-weight world champion. Prochazka came right at the defending champion as the fight got underway but was dropped at the end of the round by Pereira's signature left hook.

The fight was over just 13-seconds into the second round when Pereira dropped Prochazka with a head kick and finished him with some follow-up shots on the ground. "It was great, I've been saying all week that I was going to be victorious. I didn't know how I was going to win but I knew I was going to leave the cage happy," Pereira said after his win.

"I don't know what the next step is, I am taking all of the opportunities that come in my way." Pereira, a two-weight UFC champion, teased a potential heavyweight move by saying: "I think that is in my future, I said that last time I was in here. The fans are the people paying for this so if this is what they want, it will be inevitable."

Elsewhere on the UFC 303 card, Ian Machado Garry extended his unbeaten record to 15 fights with a points win over Michael 'Venom' Page. Garry was getting beaten on the feet in the fight but was able to take the Brit down and threaten submissions to win a hard-fought unanimous decision.

The co-main event saw Dan Ige fight on just three hours notice after being called up to face Diego Lopes. Brian Ortega was scheduled to face Lopes but was forced out of the event with an illness and Ige lost on points in a courageous showing against the Brazilian.

2024-06-30T05:15:15Z dg43tfdfdgfd