Alex Pereira completed Khalil Rountree Jr. at 4:32 of the fourth spherical by way of 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 photographs and adopted with an uppercut, which despatched Rountree to the mat. The referee stopped it instantly after the knockdown.
Pereira grew to become the seventh fighter in UFC historical past to efficiently defend his title 3 times in the identical calendar yr. Pereira landed greater than twice the variety of strikes (129-62) and vital strikes (127-61) than Rountree, who had received his previous 5 matches heading into Saturday.
Regardless of the lopsided loss, Roundtree practically 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,” stated Roundtree, who fell to 14-6.
Julianna Pena (13-5) recaptured the ladies’s bantamweight title by incomes a break up determination towards Raquel Pennington (16-10).
The judges scored the struggle 48-47, 47-48 and 48-47 in favor of Pena, who was combating for the primary time since she misplaced by unanimous determination towards Amanda Nunes in July 2022. Pena landed extra whole strikes (123-112) however the two fighters had the identical variety of vital strikes (92) as Pennington noticed her six-fight unbeaten streak come to an finish.
Mario Bautista (15-2) beat Jose Aldo (32-9) by break up determination (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 Might after his transient boxing stint.
Roman Dolidze (14-3) defeated Kevin Holland (26-12) after their middleweight struggle was stopped following the primary spherical resulting from a ugly rib harm. It was Dolidze’s second win this yr and sixth in his previous eight outings.
Kayla Harrison (18-1) defeated Ketlen Vieira (14-4) by unanimous determination (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) in a bantamweight bout.
–Discipline Degree Media
