Alex Pereira breaks down UFC 303 knockout; responds to Magomed Ankalaev, Jamahal Hill callouts

Alex Pereira and his team were rewarded for leaving no stone unturned when it came to their pre-fight planning.

A bit of last-second film study proved to play a major role in Pereira’s second successful defense of his UFC light heavyweight title, which headlined UFC 303 in Las Vegas on Saturday. Pereira met Jiri Prochazka in a rematch and once again finished the Czech warrior via strikes, this time catching him with a head kick that signaled the beginning of the end.

Pereira had already rocked Prochazka badly at the end of Round 1, then opened Round 2 with a high kick that he later explained was set up thanks to his coaches watching Prochazka’s warmup on Instagram earlier in the evening.

“Actually, I was in the locker room talking to Plinio, one of my coaches, and he showed me the video of Jiri warming up,” Pereira said at the evening’s post-fight press conference via a Portuguese translator. “I saw that he was planning to counterattack that calf kick. Defend and counter. But I told Plinio that he was doing the wrong timing, the timing was not good.

“So I saw that he was too focused on not taking that kick and he was keeping his hands down and leaving the head exposed. So I told him, I’m going to explore the high kick.”

Explore the high kick Pereira did, and it connected beautifully, giving him two wins now over his respected rival. Prochazka is no stranger to highlight-reel knockouts himself, but he is yet to figure out how to beat Pereira to the punch (or kick, in this case).

The two stepped in on short-notice to provide UFC 303 with a new main event after a Conor McGregor toe injury forced the cancellation of his originally scheduled headliner against Michael Chandler. Pereira and Prochazka will forever be linked when talking about this era of fighters, and the bond is not lost on the champion.

“I was focused,” Pereira said of his intense pre-fight staredown with Prochazka in the cage. “I was looking at somebody that was focused, a warrior. It just gave me more motivation to do what I did.”

A similar staredown occurred in their first fight, which also ended with Pereira catching Prochazka in the standup. Asked if there were any adjustments between their two fights, Pereira answered that no drastic changes were made and that he continues to steadily improve.

“No, nothing new on my end,” Pereira said. “I think I’m still in the process of evolution of MMA, I keep evolving a lot. He’s a guy that is older, been training for longer, so he probably [knew] things a lot better, but not now.”

Fans are clamoring to figure out what’s next for Pereira, who has already won UFC titles at light heavyweight and middleweight, and could become the organization’s first-ever three-division champion if he jumps to heavyweight. Pereira said he plans to rest before deciding his next move.

That hasn’t stopped his rivals from calling him out, including presumptive No. 1 contender Magomed Ankalaev and past opponent Jamahal Hill, both of whom chimed in on social media after Saturday’s main event.

“Everybody deserves, but I’m not the guy to ask,” Pereira said of Ankalaev’s challenge. “You’ve got to talk to Dana White.”

“Anybody,” he added when asked again if he wants to fight Ankalaev.

As for Hill, Pereira was even shorter in his response: “OK.”