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Alex Pereira KO’d Jiří Procházka Again To Retain His Light Heavyweight Crown At UFC 303

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UFC

Alex Pereira (11-2) knocked out Jiří Procházka (30-5-1) to retain his Light Heavyweight championships at UFC 303 in Las Vegas.

Pereira went at Procházka’s legs right from the jump, forcing a switch from southpaw to conventional almost immediately. Procházka looked to press early on, but it was Pereira again finding his jab, with good counter punches to follow. Pereira again tracked with good leg kicks and right at the bell hit a counter left hook that had Procházka hurt bad.

After being saved by the bell, Pereira immediately put Procházka out with a gigantic head kick followed by ground and pound that ended his night.

Procházka had only fought three times since joining the UFC, earning two knockout wins before submitting Glover Teixeira to win the Light Heavyweight belt in June 2022. He vacated the belt after undergoing major shoulder surgery with a near-yearlong layoff. After dropping a second-round knockout at the hands of Periera in November 2023, he did the same to Aleksandar Rakic before getting back into the title picture.

Pereira won the Middleweight title in a knockout over Israel Adesanya before dropping the belt in their UFC rematch. He was open about how difficult the weight cut was ahead of their rematch, leading to the jump to a more manageable weight class in July of last year. In his Light Heavyweight debut, he earned a decision victory over Jan Blachowicz as part of UFC 291’s co-main event before facing off against Procházka later that year. After claiming the light heavyweight belt, he knocked out Jamahal Hill in April.

After the fight, Pereira said he’s unsure of what comes next for him, but acknowledged he believes a move to heavyweight is in his future.