Light heavyweight Alex Pereira stuns UFC 303 with brutal knockout

On the night Conor McGregor was supposed to return, a current UFC champion reminded everyone he is “the baddest motherf**ker”.

On the night Conor McGregor was supposed to return to the octagon, a current UFC champion showed everyone why he is one of the great pound-for-pound fighters the sport has seen.

A broken toe ruined Irish great McGregor’s plans to end a three-year hiatus and headline UFC 303 against Michael Chandler.

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Instead, there was a little irony in the fact Alex Pereira appeared to break a toe on his foot when he ended Jiri Prochazka’s night in brutal fashion in their light heavyweight title rematch that replaced the McGregor fight at UFC 303.

The two giant fighters produced one of the bouts of the year at UFC 295 in November 2023, when the Czech star had his moments before Pereira turned the clash around and won with a second-round TKO.

There was no doubt on Sunday who is the clear owner of this division.

Prochazka was lucky to survive the first round after the Brazilian dropped him with a big left hand right on the bell.

Alex Pereira knocks out Jiri Prochazka in UFC 303.

“Oh boy, he’s wobbly, he’s real wobbly,” Joe Rogan said in commentary.

“Round two, we will see the extent to which Prochazka has recovered,” Jon Anik added.

That lasted exactly five seconds before Pereira unleashed a perfectly timed left kick to Prochazka’s head, dropping him straight to the canvas once more.

Pereira landed a few more punches before the fight was officially stopped, but it was over the moment the Brazilian’s foot connected with the right-side of Prochazka’s head.

“My goodness. My goodness. They shouldn’t have let him stand up,” Rogan said as Prochazka tried to get to his feet.

“My goodness. (Pereira) is something special.

“That’s crazy. This guy is just something special.”

Prochazka could barely stand after the beating.

Ranked fourth overall in the pound-for-pound rankings coming into UFC 303, Pereira was quickly labelled “one of the greatest of all-time” by Anik following his devastating victory.

Pereira improved his overall record to 11-2, including 9-1 in the UFC, with his only defeat in the organisation coming against Israel Adesanya in a middleweight bout back in April 2023.

The 36-year-old has won four straight fights since moving up to light heavyweight and there is now talk of him moving up another class to heavyweight.

“He’s been talking about going up to heavyweight. I say let him go,” Rogan said.

“Let’s see. He hurt his toe on Jiri’s head.”

That was the only blemish for Pereira, with UFC great Daniel Cormier among the commentators gushing about the Brazilian.

“What a head kick,” he said.

“You know what’s crazy, he’s finishing Jiri Prochazka, who finishes everybody else.”

Rogan added: “And he’s finishing them easy. Jiri didn’t even threaten him in that fight.

“There was no moment in that fight when he had him rocked.

Prochazka never saw it coming.

“In the first fight he had his moments, but Alex adjusted and Jiri still had to deal with that power.

“That power is something out of this world and so different to anyone else.”

Pereira was asked about the possibility of moving up to heavyweight after the fight.

“I think that’s in my future. I said that last time I was here,” he said via a translator.

“I’ve said it a lot, there didn’t seem to be too much interest in the organisation, but I think that’s in my future.”

Fans were left in absolute awe at the Brazilian’s performance.

One wrote on X: “Baddest human on the planet. No one at 185-205 pounds who can’t grapple can fight him. He’s the best kick boxer on planet earth. Free money. As free as free gets. He’s the baddest motherf**ker in the world.”

Another said: “That knockout by Alex Pereira was insane. Jiri is gonna be taking a long lay-off to recover from this loss.”

A third wrote: “Alex Pereira looks unstoppable at any weight class.”

Another offered: “Who could actually stop Alex right now?”

It’s a legitimate question after this dominant, surprisingly one-sided performance.

Originally published as Light heavyweight Alex Pereira stuns UFC 303 with brutal knockout