Alex Pereira completed Khalil Rountree Jr. at 4:32 of the fourth spherical through TKO to retain his light-heavyweight belt in the primary occasion of UFC 307 on Saturday evening in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah.
With Rountree’s stamina fading late within the fourth spherical, Pereira landed two physique pictures and adopted with an uppercut, which despatched Rountree to the mat. The referee stopped it instantly after the knockdown.
Pereira turned the seventh fighter in UFC historical past to efficiently defend his title 3 times in the identical calendar 12 months. Pereira landed greater than twice the variety of strikes (129-62) and important strikes (127-61) than Rountree, who had received his previous 5 matches heading into Saturday.
Regardless of the lopsided loss, Roundtree almost knocked down Pereira within the second spherical. Roundtree ducked Pereira’s kick and landed a proper hook that despatched the defending champ to 1 knee. However Pereira (12-2) rapidly regained his stability and went again on the assault.
“I used to be simply actually excited to come back in right here and actually simply embrace the second,” mentioned Roundtree, who fell to 14-6.
Julianna Pena (13-5) recaptured the ladies’s bantamweight title by incomes a cut up resolution in opposition to Raquel Pennington (16-10).
The judges scored the battle 48-47, 47-48 and 48-47 in favor of Pena, who was preventing for the primary time since she misplaced by unanimous resolution in opposition to Amanda Nunes in July 2022. Pena landed extra whole strikes (123-112) however the two fighters had the identical variety of important strikes (92) as Pennington noticed her six-fight unbeaten streak come to an finish.
Mario Bautista (15-2) beat Jose Aldo (32-9) by cut up resolution (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) in a bantamweight bout. Bautista has received seven fights in a row whereas Aldo, 38, is 1-1 since returning to MMA in Could after his temporary boxing stint.
Roman Dolidze (14-3) defeated Kevin Holland (26-12) after their middleweight battle was stopped following the primary spherical resulting from a grotesque rib damage. It was Dolidze’s second win this 12 months and sixth in his previous eight outings.
Kayla Harrison (18-1) defeated Ketlen Vieira (14-4) by unanimous resolution (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) in a bantamweight bout.
–Subject Degree Media