UFC 303 went down last night in the fight capitol of the world at T-Mobile Arena. Aex Pereira continued to establish his case as one of the best of all-time with a brilliant performance in destroying Jiri Prochazka while remaining unscathed. In the co-main event, Diego Lopes continued his rapid ascent up the featherweight division despite a last second opponent change. It was a bit of an odd night considering all the short notice fight replacements. But Pereira's performance alone was worth the price of admission, or as it were, the cost of the PPV.
Alex Pereira finishes Jiri Prochazka with brutal, beautiful head kick
What Alex Pereira has done in less than three years in the UFC is mind boggling. Pereria went from two division kickboxing champion to two division UFC champion and MMA legend in just over 2.5 years.
Pereira, in fact, is Seattle Fights pound-for-pound champion and second place for that meaningless honorary title isn't even remotely close to Pereria.
Pereira now has six UFC victories over UFC fighters who have been champion (Sean Strickland, Jan Blachowicz, Israel Adesanya, Jamahal Hill and Jiri Prochazka x 2). More impressively, he has been utterly dominant in all of his fights save his TKO loss to Adesanya in their rematch.
Periera has otherworldly power, perhaps the best striking technique in MMA, and all the meanness and nasty demeanor you'd want in an MMA champion.
In his third straight devastating finish of a former champion, Pereira essentially shut out Prochazka. Prochazka, in his own right a tremendous fighter and finisher, was unable to land much of anything on Pereira despite the Czech's unorthodox and normally effective fighting style.
Pereria clearly learned from his first encounter (a second round finish for Pereia) with "Denisa" and landed several hard shots throughout the first round that had the Czech hurt.
Right before the horn ended round one, Prochazka stepped in and a massive left hook from "Poatan" sent the challenge crashing backward to the canvas. The fight was all but over at that point despite the 60 second round break.
Pereira immediately opened the second round with a brutal left head kick that once more sent Denisa crashing to the canvas. Somehow Prochazka kept his consciousness but nasty hammerfists followed and brought an end to the bout at 0:13 of round two.
After the bout Pereira expressed his desire to move up to heavyweight and capture an unprecedented third division title in the UFC. Give the man that opportunity as every UFC fan would like to see it. Dana White has thrown some cold water on that idea suggesting the move up is more difficult than many realize plus stating a desire to see Pereira clean out the light heavyweight division first.
Diego Lopes takes unanimous decision over Dan Ige
Credit Dan Ige for taking a fight on less than a fight on a few hours notice and Diego Lopes for the same in what has to be some of the most unusual circumstances for a fight coming together. The originally scheduled co-main event for UFC 303 was Jamahal Hill vs Khalil Rountree but after that bout fell apart, Lopes agreed to fight Brian Ortega on short notice.
Lopes then had to make weight three times, as Ortega requested the fight take place at 155 pounds after Lopes already had made weight at 146 pounds for the originally scheduled featherweight tilt. After Ortega was then pulled from the fight in the afternoon, Ige stepped in at an agreed catchweight of 165, so Lopes made weight a third time.
The first two rounds of this bout were close and entertaining, but Lopes proved the edge both on the feet and the ground. Lopes landed more shots and the heavier strikes, although Ige had success on the feet as well.
Lopes threatened with a guillotine that he deftly transitioned to a d'arce choke attempt late in the first round. Lopes won the second round as well on the strength of his grappling as he controlled Ige for most of the round.
Further credit Ige for heeding his corner's advice prior to the start of the final frame that "50 K" needed a finish to win the fight. Ige went for broke throwing heavy strikes as Lopes tired and appeared to be in trouble, although never seriously hurt, on a couple occasions.
Big props to both men for taking this fight under such extreme and unusual circumstances. Lopes was already on the cusp of being a big star and this turn should only set him up for a huge fight, possibly a title eliminator, in the near future.
Roman Dolidze take lackluster decision over Anthony Smith
Thank god for Daniel Cormier. "DC" excoriated Anthony Smith late in the fight for allowing Roman Dolidze to clown Smith as the Georgian did an odd dance that appeared to be mocking Smith's reluctance to engage. Smith, bewilderingly, reacted by simply smiling
But DC wasn't having it and proceeded to dress down Smith for not "punching Dolidze in the face and then slapping him" for the egregious display of disrespect.
Din Thomas chimed in that their friendship and history training together likely explained the moment, but DC rightly corrected Thomas by reminding him that this was, after all, a fight and that even friends in the UFC should fight each other as if mortal enemies.
As for the bout itself, nothing of interest seemed to occur in this meaningless bout. "Lionheart" Smith continued to prove why he doesn't deserve that fight name and Dolidze, while clearly winning the fight, never was close to finishing the fight in this dull affair.
Mandy Chiasson escapes with TKO victory due to doctor stoppage against Maria Bueno Silva
It was an unfortunate ending to this fight when Mayra Bueno Silva suffered a deep cut from bottom position in the second round. Bueno Sliva, who challenged for and lost a title match against Raquel Pennington in January, was dominating this fight by outclassing Chiasson on the feet.
Chiasson, who has an admirable frame, nonetheless is a rather stiff and awkward athlete who's striking leaves much to be desired. However, she secured top position in the second round and a perfectly placed slicing elbow opened a deep cut over Bueno Silva's right eye.
Bueno Silva then attempted to secure an armbar and Chiasson, sensing the danged Bueno Silva poses on the ground, decided to stand up and reset the fight on the feet.
The referee then took the opportunity to pause the action to have the ringside physician look at the cut. With the doctor declaring that the cut was all the way down to the bone the referee stopped the bout giving Chiasson the TKO victory at 1:58 of Round 2.
It was an unfortunate ending for Bueno Silva as she appeared largely unhurt from the elbow despite the blood and was largely dominating the fight to that point.
Ian Machado Garry uses grappling to outpoint Michael Venom Page
Ian Machado Garry needs to seriously up his MMA game if he ever wants his skills and title aspirations to match his bluster. Garry, frustrated and largely ineffective on the feet, took the fight to the mat as he acknowledged his inability to outstrike Page.
Garry won the first round by taking down Page after he had taken several hard pot shots from Venom who utilized his quick striking from distance karate style to land on the brash Irishman. Garry caught a kick to convert the takedown and ride out the round in top position. Garry, despite appearing to have a RNC locked in under the chin, somehow managed to not finish the choke despite Venom Page's reputation for being weak on the ground. Garry continued to prove his lack of skill on the ground as he allowed Page to control his right hand for the last minute or so of the round and render it completely ineffective.
After Page won the second round by dominating the striking exchanges, Garry was able to outpoint Page in the final frame by a narrow margin. Garry one more showed his poor grappling ability, albeit slightly better than Page's grappling, by looking to duck under and score a bodylock takedown only to have MVP collapse on top of him and take top position.
After a short time in top position, Page decided to reset the fight on the feet. Late in the round, Garry was able to secure a takedown but Page quickly rose to his feet and in the process Garry was able to take the back. However, Garry continued to show poor grappling form and while he was able to maintain backpack position, he was too high in the position to threaten a choke or land effective strikes.
Despite the lackluster performance, Garry improved his overall record to 15-0, with the last eight wins under the UFC banner.
