Alex Pereira And the Real Winners and Losers from UFC 303

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Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

If at first you don't succeed, champ/champ again.

The UFC planned a Conor McGregor-led extravaganza for its International Fight Week blowout in Las Vegas. But, when the "Notorious" former featherweight/lightweight king pulled out with an injury, Dana White and Co. had to reach back into their back of combative tricks.

Out came ex-middleweight and incumbent light heavyweight ruler Alex Pereira, who became a headliner again when the company matched him with past victim Jiří Procházka, whom he defeated to win the vacant 205-pound crown at UFC 295 in New York City.

In the end, a devastating KO from "Poatan" silenced any doubters about who's the king of the light heavyweight division.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the comments.

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Just when you thought the second championship go-round between Alex Pereira and Jiří Procházka would be a strategic chess match or a frenetic barnburner, it was neither.

Instead, it was a walkover.

The Brazilian champion added another log to what's already become a superstar-level fire, dispatching the ex-titleholder with a single head kick at 13 seconds of the second round.

He beat Procházka in two rounds six months ago as well, but the back-and-forth nature of that fight made many believe the Czech challenger could correct mistakes and perhaps necessitate a trilogy fight in another six months.

Won't happen.

Pereira proved superior from the opening bell on Saturday, using a sturdy, stand-up style to frustrate and punish his frenetic foe every time he tried to initiate exchanges.

He strafed him with hard kicks to the legs and landed stinging jabs and follow-up right hands throughout the first five minutes, punctuating the round with a left hook that dropped Procházka flat on his back an instant before the horn sounded.

The minute's worth of rest didn't help.

Instead, Pereira marched forward and almost immediately launched the high kick that crashed into the right side of Procházka's head and rendered him defenseless, though referee Herb Dean's hesitation allowed a few ground strikes before the official wave-off just 13 seconds into the round.

It was Pereira's eighth win in nine UFC fights and his second defense of a 205-pound reign that followed a title run at middleweight that started with a defeat of Israel Adesanya at UFC 281 and ended when he lost a rematch to Adesanya nine months later at UFC 287.

"I was saying all week that I'd come out here and be victorious," Pereira said. "I didn't know how. But I knew I would win."

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To MMA record-keepers, Dan Ige lost a fight.

But to MMA fans, Dan Ige became a legend.

The fighter long billed as "50K" added a million dollars worth of respect to his name on Saturday night when he stepped in on four hours' notice—yes, that said four hours—to replace Brian Ortega and face Diego Lopes in a pay-per-view co-main event.

Ortega had prolonged difficulty trying to make the initially planned 145-pound limit, which prompted their bout to be re-set for 155. Then, when Ortega came up ill overnight after weighing in on Friday, the call went out to Ige, who lives in Las Vegas.

And he didn't just rescue the card. He put on a pretty good fight.

Though he was outhustled, out-struck, and taken down by Lopes through the first two rounds, Ige survived into the third and turned the tide on his rapidly tiring opponent in a compelling chase for a finish on the way to a narrow unanimous decision loss.

All three judges scored it 29-28 for Lopes, but it didn't matter.

The crowd gave Ige a standing ovation and bent over backward to give him respect, clearing the way for Ige himself to make an impassioned statement about his mindset.

"Eight weeks, six weeks, four weeks, four hours. It doesn't matter. This is what I live for," he said. "They said, 'Hey, do you want to fight tonight?' And I was like, 'This is an opportunity to be a legend.' I'm gonna tell this story to my grandkids."

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Anthony Smith's recent career has been a forecasting mystery.

Entering Saturday, he was 6-5 in his last 11 fights since a championship date with Jon Jones five years ago at UFC 235. And his performances have been as inconsistent as his record, with some fights resembling high-level contention and others appearing as if the end of the competitive road either is or should be near.

The main-card date with Roman Dolidze was surely closer to the latter.

The 35-year-old light heavyweight veteran took the rising middleweight contender on short notice and appeared either unwilling or unable to mount a consistent offense, instead plodding forward ineffectively and offering little resistance on the way to a clear unanimous decision loss.

The fight drew consistent boos from the Las Vegas crowd and was frequently chastised from the broadcast table, where analysts Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier expressed frustration with the cordial gestures—including a bizarre sequence where Dolidze danced in front of Smith and Smith merely smiled and tapped gloves with him—between them.

"If that was me and he danced in front of me," Cormier said, "I'd have punched him in the mouth."

Smith landed 40 fewer overall strikes across 15 minutes, was on the wrong end of the fight's lone takedown and had zero position control time compared to better than three-and-a-half minutes for Dolidze, who could presumably be ranked in two weight classes given that he was No. 10 at 185 pounds and Smith was No. 10 at 205.

"I will compete in both of them," he said, prefacing a call-out of Khamzat Chimaev, "and I will be champion."

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UFC fights often end with a two-word phrase.

Sometimes it's "and new" and other times it's "and still."

But the go-home snippet for Saturday's main-card duel between bantamweights Mayra Bueno Silva and Macy Chiasson was something a little less dramatic.

"Too deep."

Those two words, uttered by a cage-side physician to referee Chris Tognoni, were enough to send the seventh-ranked Chiasson to the winner's circle thanks to a ghastly cut she'd opened over Bueno Silva's right eye with a devastating left elbow strike.

"I was hoping we were gonna be able to continue," Chiasson said. "I feel like I was so prepared for this fight in every single aspect."

The opening round was competitive but probably leaned in Bueno Silva's direction thanks to more impactful striking, but Chiasson quickly got things to the floor at the start of the second, gained a top-mount position, and delivered the decisive elbow.

The fighters got to their feet several moments later and Tognoni quickly stopped things to get counsel from the doctor. The cut was wiped with a towel but immediately began spurting blood once again, prompting analyst Daniel Cormier to react viscerally.

"I can't even look at that," he said. "That is disgusting."

His colleague, Joe Rogan, disagreed.

"It's just a cut," he said. "It's just blood."

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He's an unapologetic loudmouth. He's a polarizing persona.

And whaddya know? Maybe Ian Machado Garry's a fighter, too.

The chatty Irishman faced his most challenging test in an eight-fight stay in the UFC in Saturday's main-card opener and passed it with adequate if not flying colors, defeating Michael Page by a narrow but fair decision in a three-rounder at welterweight.

The seventh-ranked Garry had built his resume with seven previous victories, but No. 14 Page was a different animal entirely thanks to a unique karate-based style that relies on quick movements and precise counters.

He managed to deal with it by leaning on his grappling training, scoring takedowns in the first and third rounds, spending nearly half the fight in a controlling position and nearly getting a quick win with a rear-naked choke in the first three minutes.

"For me, it was patience. Patience was the key to victory today," Garry said.

"You've got to come in here and plan for every single scenario and that's what we knew would be the difference."

The fighters combined for fewer than 200 combined strike attempts and landed just 117 between them, which put even more emphasis on the back control that Garry racked up on either end of a second round that Page controlled with sharper punches.

It was Page's first UFC loss after a win in his February debut, while Garry stayed unbeaten in the UFC and ticked up to 15-0 as a pro.

And not surprisingly, he reasserted his long-stated future plans.

"I'm coming for that world title," he said. "Undefeated. Unstoppable. I don't care who it is. I'm gonna be a world champion."

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Joe Pyfer knew he needed a bounce-back performance.

The Philadelphia-based middleweight had won three straight and assembled a following heading into a Fight Night main event with veteran Jack Hermansson, but when that result went bad—in the form of a decision loss—the hype train slowed significantly.

Well, you can go ahead and rev up the engines for another go-round.

The 27-year-old got back into the winning column in particularly memorable fashion in Saturday's prelim finale, hurting Marc-Andre Barriault with the first right hand he threw and finishing him soon after in the sort of devastating fashion that'll be chatted about.

"That's why he feels like he can knock out anyone in front of him," analyst Joe Rogan said. "When he hits the gas, this man is unstoppable."

Pyfer's decisive volley began with the right hand that landed on Barriault's left ear, sent him stumbling awkwardly and provided an opportunity for a follow-up in which Pyfer threw three quick shots to the body and then another up top that skimmed the back of his foe's head.

Barriault lurched forward and allowed for one final shot, a hard right uppercut that dropped him face-first to the mat and prompted referee Herb Dean to intervene after 85 seconds.

"Jack was the better man. No excuses. But I know what I'm capable of and I ain't scared of nobody," Pyfer said. "Joe Pyfer only needs one. All them haters talking all that stuff, where you at now?"

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Sometimes, the odds-makers know what they're looking at.

It was certainly true when it came to the preliminary card opener featuring 25-year-old bantamweight prospect Payton Talbott, who was installed going in as a –1600 favorite, by far and away the biggest number across all 13 fights.

Turns out it might not have been big enough.

Seemingly blessed with the "it" factor that helps turn elite fighters into crossover superstars, Talbott took another incremental step with a devastating 19-second KO of overmatched foe Yanis Ghemmouri.

"That kid is as legit as they get," analyst Joe Rogan gushed, after Talbott flicked a left jab and followed with a straight right hand that landed directly on Ghemmouri's chin and instantly dropped him flat on his back. "You see a performance like this, and it really justifies the 1600 favorite number. This kid is a real contender, right away."

It was a third straight win in the company for Talbott, who earned a decision on Dana White's Contender Series last August before picking up a third-round submission and a second-round KO on Fight Night shows in November and March, respectively.

The shot left Ghemmouri stiff and seemingly defenseless in a walk-off KO position, but Talbott pounced when referee Chris Tognoni didn't intervene right away and landed another handful of shots to make it academic.

"I wanted to get more out of him. That's why I paused for a minute there," Talbott said. "It's electric. It feels like all my dreams are coming true and everything I believe is right in front of me."

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The International Fight Week vibe was alive and well even before the T-Mobile Arena was half full, with fighters from outside the U.S. borders finding early prelim success.

The four fighters carrying foreign flags swept Saturday night's first four fights, with perhaps none making a bigger career statement than Japanese flyweight Rei Tsuruya.

The 22-year-old improved to 10-0 as a pro and won his official debut after reaching the promotion's main stage with a triumph in the 125-pound bracket of the Asia-based Road to the UFC tournament, defeating Carlos Hernandez in a mat-heavy match that analyst Joe Rogan labeled "a real grappler's delight."

Indeed, the fighters spent better than 10 minutes on the ground and took turns chasing submissions and reversing one another's advantages with stellar scrambling work.

Tsuruya landed three of his eight takedown tries and was in charge for better than six minutes on the mat. He worked Hernandez into a series of awkward positions that had both Rogan and broadcast teammate Daniel Cormier shrieking with delight, though they gave Hernandez full marks, too, for managing to avoid a finish and work his own offense.

Tsuruya landed 62 strikes to Hernandez's 26 and won two of three rounds on each of the three scorecards, dropping Hernandez in the process to 9-4 overall and 2-3 in the UFC.

Joining Tsuruya on the international podium were Brazil's Vinicius Oliveira by unanimous decision over Ricky Simon, Slovakia's Martin Buday by split decision over Andrei Arlovski, and Canada's Gillian Robertson by unanimous decision over Michelle Waterson-Gomez.

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It was hard to believe the rankings were real.

Given that Michelle Waterson-Gomez entered her early prelim finale with fellow ranked strawweight Gillian Robertson slotted one position ahead of her foe—No. 14 to No. 15—it stood to reason that it'd be a competitive fight that she would have a good chance to win.

Instead, Waterson-Gomez found herself comprehensively overmatched from start to finish and ultimately on the short end of a unanimous decision in which all three judges scored all three rounds for Robertson, including one round by a two-point margin.

So, it was no surprise that she chose it as a competitive swan song.

The 38-year-old peeled off the gloves for what she announced would be the final time after the fight, finishing with an 18-13 overall record that included matches with some of the sport's biggest names, including Rose Namajunas, Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

"I wouldn't be the person I am today if it wasn't for the UFC," she said. "Fighting runs through my veins and it's made me who I am. My husband told me 'Just because you're not fighting in the octagon doesn't mean you stop fighting,' and that made it easier to accept."

Robertson landed 122 overall strikes to 41 for Waterson-Gomez, took her down twice, and racked up better than 12 minutes of positional control time in a 15-minute fight.

The win was her second straight, boosted her to 10-6 in the UFC, and left her angling for bigger quarry.

"Numbers one to 13," she said, "I'm coming for them all."

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Given his combat resume, Andrei Arlovski deserved better treatment.

Still, though he's a former UFC heavyweight champion and a weight class record-holder in both total fights (42) and victories (21), his Saturday performance simply didn't warrant it.

The 45-year-old entered on a three-fight losing streak and did little to nothing to keep it from extending to four, instead sleepwalking through most of 15 minutes with Martin Buday on the way to losing a split decision in his 60th professional fight.

And the broadcast crew didn't hesitate in voicing its opinion.

"It's not a high-level heavyweight fight," analyst Joe Rogan said.

"Andrei Arlovski is a legitimate legend and should be celebrated as a legend. But at this point they're going to have to want to watch you fight and you have to give them a reason to want to watch you fight."

Arlovski, who debuted with the company at UFC 28, landed 98 overall strikes and 74 of the significant variety but never strung together any meaningful offense and was largely unable to offset Buday's apparent strategy of initiating tie-ups and fighting in close.

Buday had 52 more overall strike attempts, landed 65 more, and defended Arlovski's lone takedown while improving to 5-1 in the UFC.

Arlovski, meanwhile, dropped to 23-18 with a no-contest.

"This legitimately could be Andrei Arlovski's last fight," analyst Daniel Cormier said. "The setting's right for it if he wants to walk away."

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Main Card

Alex Pereira def. Jiří Procházka by TKO (head kick), 0:13, Round 2

Diego Lopes def. Dan Ige by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Roman Dolidze def. Anthony Smith by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Macy Chiasson def. Mayra Bueno Silva by TKO (doctor input), 1:58, Round 2

Ian Machado Garry def. Michael Page by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Preliminary Card

Joe Pyfer def. Marc-Andre Barriault by KO (punches), 1:25, Round 1

Andre Fili def. Cub Swanson by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)

Jean Silva def. Charles Jourdain by KO (punch), 1:22, Round 2

Payton Talbott def. Yanis Ghemmouri by KO (punch), 0:19, Round 1

Early Preliminary Card

Gillian Robertson def. Michelle Waterson-Gomez by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)

Martin Buday def. Andrei Arlovski by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)

Rei Tsuruya def. Carlos Hernandez by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Vinicius Oliveira def. Ricky Simon by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)