With two title fights on the card, only one champion would retain their belt. Making sense of an action-packed UFC 307.
A 12-fight card at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City was headlined by two title fights. In the co-main event, Julianna Peña reclaimed the title she took from Amanda Nunes as her split decision victory over Raquel Pennington earned her the women’s bantamweight belt. Will Peña vs. Kayla Harrison be next? To make sense of it all, Andreas Hale and Brett Okamoto offer their final takeaways on a dramatic fight night.
Hale: It feels fitting that this fight happened to kick off the month of October as Alex Pereira resembled Michael Myers, the relentless antagonist from the slasher film series “Halloween”, with his ability to stalk his opponents while wearing an expressionless mask on his face.
Pereira doesn’t need the mask, but the relentlessness feels just as spooky.
Few thought he would lose to Khalil Rountree Jr., and most expected a finish in the light heavyweight title fight. The predicted outcome happened, but the systematic way Pereira broke down a sturdy challenger with a disciplined offering of calf kicks and jabs in the face of adversity from a heavy-handed opponent was fascinating.
Rountree was fearless and presented a clear and present danger with his power. He caught Pereria’s attention early when he briefly dropped the champion with a counter right hand in the second round. But Pereria never panicked. Instead, he stuck to the game plan and drained Rountree’s gas tank with pressure while compromising his mobility with the calf kicks. He was never overanxious to finish the fight, despite surprisingly being down 29-28 on all three judges’ scorecards heading into the fourth round.
Once he realized Rountree was spent, he obtained the finish with a violent series of punches, including a pair of body shots that crumbled the challenger.
It’s frightening to watch his opponents melt from his power.
While this championship run may not be as remarkable as Ronda Rousey’s 2014-15 run, when she defended the women’s bantamweight championship four times with no fight lasting longer than 66 seconds, Pereira’s is more devastating.
