Alex Pereira of Brazil continued his glorious reign as champion when he knocked out Jiri Prochazka to retain the light-heavyweight title at UFC 303 in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.
The 36-year-old Brazilian floored Czech fighter Prochazka who is 31 with a left high-kick in the second round, stunning the sold-out crowd inside the T-Mobile Arena.
It was Pereira’s second win over Prochazka after stopping him in round two of their fight in November to win the light-heavyweight title.
The former middleweight champion has won two titles and made two defences in just nine fights since his UFC debut in November 2021 in one of the most remarkable runs in the promotion’s history.
Pereira and Prochazka stepped in at short notice to fight after Conor McGregor pulled out of his headlining bout with Michael Chandler earlier this month with a broken toe.
The event marked the second time in three months that Pereira had topped a big event after headlining the landmark UFC 300 in March.
Pereira knocked out Jamahal Hill that night to retain his title, setting up the rematch with Prochazka, who had stopped Aleksandar Rakic on the same evening.
In the co-main event decided earlier, Ireland’s Ian Machado Garry beat Britain’s Michael ‘Venom’ Page by unanimous decision to extend the unbeaten start to his career to 15.
The 26-year-old Garry got the better of the grappling exchanges with 37-year-old Page, who suffered his first UFC defeat following a winning debut in March.