Alex Pereira needed just one minute and 22 seconds to reclaim the UFC light-heavyweight world championship, knocking out Magomed Ankalaev in emphatic style at UFC 320 in Las Vegas.
The 38-year-old Brazilian avenged his March loss to Ankalaev at UFC 313, where he was dominated over five rounds. This time, Pereira wasted no time, flooring the Russian with a devastating right hook before finishing the fight with brutal elbows on the canvas.
“Vengeance is never a good thing. I told everyone I wasn’t in a good position last time but no one believed it,” Pereira said post-fight. “Tonight you saw it.”
The Vegas crowd erupted as referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the fight just past the one-minute mark. Ankalaev, who had been chasing his 13th straight win, landed only two of his seven strikes, while Pereira connected with 25 of 37.
Pereira, already a two-division champion, has now reclaimed his light-heavyweight belt in just his eighth UFC fight — the fastest rise to double champion status in UFC history.
With the series now tied at one win each, a trilogy fight between Pereira and Ankalaev seems inevitable. But UFC president Dana White revealed that Pereira has ambitions of moving up yet again — to heavyweight.
“They say they want to fight at heavyweight, but I said to focus on tonight first,” White said. “This guy has been an absolute stud for us. He fights when he’s hurt, he wants to fight everybody.”
In the co-main event, Merab Dvalishvili defended his bantamweight crown with a dominant unanimous decision win over Cory Sandhagen. The Georgian, nicknamed “The Machine”, set a UFC record for most takedowns in a five-round fight (20) and extended his winning streak to 14, putting him in the company of UFC greats like Islam Makhachev, Kamaru Usman, and Anderson Silva.
With Pereira’s explosive revenge victory and Dvalishvili’s relentless dominance, UFC 320 may go down as one of the defining nights of the year.
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