Simply 11 battles into his MMA profession, Alex Pereira ended up being a two-division champ after he bludgeoned Jiri Prochazka with elbows to declare the uninhabited light heavyweight title in the UFC 295 centerpiece.
He caught gold after penalizing Prochazka with leg kicks early and after that he dropped the previous champ with a shocking left hook as they exchanged blows near the cage. As quickly as Prochazka was up to his knees, he tried to get onto a takedown to endure a prospective assault.
Pereira responded by releasing a barrage of punches and elbows to the side of Prochazka’s head, which triggered him to go limp as he fell in reverse to the canvas. The attack continued however referee Marc Goddard saw enough to stop the contest with completion coming at 4:08 in the 2nd round.
Replays appeared to reveal Prochazka making it back to his feet rather rapidly however Pereira seemed like the blockage was warranted.
“I’m not amazed,” Pereira stated later on. “After the very first left hook and another one, he dropped to my legs. I do not think it was a bad blockage. It’s a fantastic honor for me.”
While there were certainly concerns about Goddard’s call, Prochazka made no problems when he resolved the loss.
“I believe because end, it was right,” Prochazka stated. “I was out however I will never ever stop. Sh * t occurs. For me, it’s a huge find out, let’s deal with that and be back more powerful than ever. Thank you Alex. Thank you for this battle. I’ll be back.”
Prior to the surface, Pereira did the majority of his damage with a series of ravaging kicks that had swellings and swelling forming on Prochazka’s lead leg. That resulted in a takedown from Prochazka, which is where he started hammering away at the Brazilian with a series of elbows on the ground.
To his credit, Pereira rushed back to his feet before the preliminary wound up Prochazka’s fumbling seemed a possible equalizer to his challenger’s expertise on the feet.
Regardless of that success, Prochazka appeared all set to challenge Pereira on the feet at the start of the 2nd round and he handled to capture the previous GLORY champ with a number of punches that certainly landed tidy. Prochazka continued to move on with pressure however that backfired with Pereira going back and dumping a left hook that dropped the Czech fighter to the canvas.
That caused the finishing series with Pereira blasting Prochazka with the elbows that resulted in the interruption to crown him as the ninth ever two-division champ in UFC history.
Following the win, Pereira rapidly turned his attention to old opponent Israel Adesanya with wish to restore their competition– this time in the light heavyweight department.
“I’m not the kind of guy to call individuals out however there’s a guy that in the past [who] did some interviews and stated I was a guy who was simply going to remain in the bar,” Pereira stated. “That inspired me. He saved me from a bar to be here today. This guy stated he simply wishes to return and battle in 2027. I believe he’s an extremely skilled guy. It’s a waste of skill so I wish to save him too, to come here and combat.
“I understand that I’m not going to do what he did to me to and make me battle 3 times to combat him at middleweight. I understand it’s a guy we have a great deal of history. I wish to make this battle occur. Adesanya, concerned daddy.”
As much as he desires the Adesanya battle, Pereira likewise resolved previous light heavyweight champ Jamahal Hillwho was sitting cage side preparing for the possibility to recover the title he gave up after suffering a torn Achilles’ tendon.
“I’m an active fighter, now an active champ,” Pereira stated. “I understand Jamahal is hurt so I do not understand if he’ll be back in time since I wish to battle real quickly.”
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