UFC 320: Pereira stuns Ankalaev with TKO to regain light heavyweight title | Mixed Martial Arts News

Alex Pereira gained again the sunshine heavyweight title with a technical knockout of Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320 in Las Vegas.

Alex Pereira has induced a boilover at Final Combating Championship (UFC) 320 with a first-round technical knockout (TKO) of closely favoured Magomed Ankalaev in Las Vegas, regaining his undisputed mild heavyweight championship belt and avenging his defeat by the Russian seven months earlier.

Pereira took just one minute and 20 seconds to defeat Ankalaev after he dropped the 33-year-old champion with an enormous proper hook lower than a minute into the competition on Saturday at T-Cell Enviornment.

The Brazilian then completed off the struggle with a flurry of punches and elbows earlier than the match referee known as off the bout.

Ankalaev, who had by no means been knocked out in a UFC match, had his 14-match unbeaten run ended, going again to his promotional debut at a UFC Battle Night time in March 2018.

Pre-fight, Pereira was the determined underdog, with Ankalaev backed by 89 p.c of the struggle bets at BetMGM.

Ankalaev (20-2-1, 12-2-1 UFC) had already overwhelmed Pereira (13-3, 10-2 UFC) of their first bout at UFC 313 on March 8. Pereira claimed he fought at simply 40 p.c of his traditional capabilities attributable to harm.

Pereira’s victory makes him a two-time UFC mild heavyweight champion.

The 38-year-old’s victory revives the sunshine heavyweight title image, taking the belt from a fighter in Ankalaev who did little to encourage hope for the way forward for the division. With Jiri Prochazka additionally successful his bout by gorgeous knockout, it woke up the potential for a 3rd bout towards Pereira for the belt.

Within the earlier co-main occasion championship bout, Merab Dvalishvili (21-4-0) defended his undisputed bantamweight crown with a unanimous determination towards Cory Sandhagen (18-6-0) of their five-round contest.

The three judges scored it for Dvalishvili: 49-45, 49-45 and 49-46.

Probably the most anticipated motion of the primary card started with a lightweight heavyweight struggle between Prochazka (32-5-1) and Khalil Rountree Jr (15-7-0). With a loss doubtless within the steadiness late within the third, the Czech fighter landed a devastating mixture that knocked Rountree out chilly with two minutes left on the clock.

Rountree gained an early benefit by touchdown a number of sequence of high-calibre combos within the first spherical that left Prochazka clearly stumbling into the second. The exchanges additionally drained Rountree, permitting Prochazka an opportunity to discover a window along with his third-round explosion.