Alex Pereira earns belt back via knockout to cap violent UFC 320

Alex Pereira has never put together a combination quite like this.

The Brazilian superstar landed a flurry of punches to knock out Magomed Ankalaev in the main event of UFC 320 and then topped it off by blowing him a series of kisses moments after the referee stopped the fight.

The pair of light heavyweights had developed a heated rivalry over the last seven months, after Ankalaev dethroned Pereira at UFC 313, and the latter may have ended it Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. Pereira won his championship belt back in just 80 seconds, dropping Ankalaev with an overhand right and then following it with ground-and-pound.

“I told everyone I was not in a good position (health-wise) last time,” Pereira said afterwards through a translator in the octagon. “No one believed it. Tonight, you saw it.”  

T-Mobile has hosted 32 UFC events since opening nearly a decade ago. Few turned out as memorable as UFC 320.

Pereira’s upset knockout victory was a fitting end to a night that was action-packed from the start.

The Fight of the Night came two bouts before Periera’s win when a pair of his former challengers, Jiri Prochazka and Khalil Rountree, faced off in what many expected to be a top contender fight.

The locally-based Rountree rocked the Czech Prochazka several times in the first two rounds of what turned out to be, as expected, a straight kickboxing bout. Rountree had a commanding lead, but couldn’t keep it safe.

He got drawn into a war with Prochazka in the third round and gassed, ultimately getting knocked out at 3:04 of the final frame. Prochazka, who’s twice been knocked out by Pereira in the past, was cageside for the headlining bout and appeared to want to confront the champion.

But he was rebuffed. Pereira may welcomed a staredown on another night, but he kept his post-fight comments brief and instead asked for a moment of silence for Arthur Jones.

The Super Bowl champion and brother of former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Jon Jones passed away Friday.

“I had a whole speech prepared but some things are more important,” Pereira said.

The other belt at risk at UFC 320 stayed put. Rountree’s teammate at Syndicate MMA, Merab Dvalishvili, was as dominant as ever in ragdolling challenger Cory Sandhagen en route to a unanimous-decision victory (49-45, 49-45, 49-46).

Dvalishvili promised to stand with the feared striker Sandhagen, and he did for stretches. The champion who’s now won 14 fights in a row had a knockdown and near-finish in the second round.

“I said I would knock him out,” Dvalishvili said. “Almost. Now they will respect my striking too.”

Dvalishvili’s fight was the only one of four bouts on the main card to go to decision. Before Pereira, the quickest finish belonged to featherweight contender Youssef Zala, who submitted Josh Emmett via armbar at 1:38 of the first round.

The stoppage caused some confusion as Emmett verbally tapped out with Zalal wrapped around him.

No one was confused about what happened in the opening main-card bout as middleweight contender Joe Pyfer shook off a rough first round to submit Abus Magomedov via face crank at 1:44 of the second round. 

Pyfer is closing in on a title shot at middleweight, where Pereira originally won gold. Now his sights appear to set on heavyweight, as UFC President Dana White confirmed that Pereira approached him about moving another weight class before the fight.

White has been against the move in the past but sounded more open to it after Pereira avenged the Ankalaev loss on Saturday night.

“I don’t like to make excuses but I wasn’t well that night (of the first fight),” Pereira said. “I’m well tonight.”

Read below for full results from the preliminary card.

Ateba Gautier continued to build up his status as a first-rate middleweight prospect with a first-round knockout victory over Tre’ston Vines. Gautier needed only 1:41 of fight time to secure the stoppage.

Daniel Santos knocked out Yoo Joo-Sang 21 seconds into the second round of their catchweight (153 pounds) bout. The fight was billed as a slugfest that should be one of the most exciting of the night, and lived up to the hype.

Debutant bantamweight Jakub Wiklacz won a controversial split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) over former Bellator champion Patchy Mix in a bantamweight bout. Mix started slow but appeared to eke out the second and third rounds. Two out of three judges didn’t see it that way.

Andre Muniz needed to survive two more seconds to get saved by the first-round bell. The middleweight veteran couldn’t do it. Las Vegas-based standout Edmen Shahbazyan kept coming and pulled off a knockout officially at 4:58 of the first round.

Another Las Vegas-based fighter, welterweight Punahele Soriano, gassed severely but still held on to win his third straight contest. Soriano defeated Nikolay Veretennikov by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Women’s bantamweight Yana Santos criticized her opponent, Macy Chiasson, for missing weight and then taught her a lesson physically. Santos battered Chaisson for the first two rounds before finding herself in trouble in the third to win via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Undefeated bantamweight Farid Basharat, who trains out of Las Vegas, took another step forward by outclassing Chris Gutierrez. Basharat won two out of three rounds on every judges’ scorecard to pocket a unanimous decision victory over Gutierrez.

Ramiz Brahimaj stunned Austin Vanderford with a big upset in a welterweight fight. Brahimaj submitted Vanderford via guillotine choke at 2:36 of the second round.

Veronica Hardy defeated Brojan Walker by unanimous decision — winning every round on every judges’ scorecard — in a women’s flyweight bout to open the card. Hardy nearly submitted Walker in the first round but settled for the lopsided tallies on the scorecards eventually.