I will admit that I wasn't very excited about this card after the main event got swapped out at the last minute. I am curious how the financials for that sort of thing work in a situation like this as far as the fans are concerned. I would imagine that the amount of money that fans had to pay for tickets would have dropped dramatically and I certainly hope that there is a "automatic refund" option available for people who had already planned on seeing McGregor and Chandler in the top spot. I don't know how that works but I would imagine that there were a lot of quite angry people who were no longer interested in the event.
I know that I wasn't and that was why I didn't even go and join my friends at the bar until it had already been going on for 90 minutes.
I was quite excited to see the rematch between Pereira and Jiri Procházka though.
Do you remember when Pereira was just some guy that we had a VHS video of and that was it? I do. The only reason why he came on the scene was because he was the only person that had ever beaten Izzy Adesanya even though it was a very long time ago and in kickboxing. He was hyped up and brought to the UFC, sent straight to the top and then proceeded to shock us all by dismantling the previously believed to be unbeatable and dominant champion in Israel Adesanya. To be fair Izzy would end up winning in their rematch but then, rather than stick around for another rematch Alex Pereira went up a weight class and then proceeded to dominate there.
At light heavyweight Alex then made quick work of everyone there as well and then became the champion there as well. I will admit that I kind of felt bad for Czech Procházka , who I will henceforth refer to as "Jiri" because his surname is too difficult to remember. I felt bad for him because he was a guy from a country that nobody ever thinks about as being a force in the sport and he, himself seemed like an unstoppable force that was going to be on the top of the division for a very long time. Well, Pereira had his number by scoring a KO in their first matchup and appeared to be a seriously superior fighter. Since that ill-fated day, Jiri has been sidelined to a certain degree even though other than this one person, he seemed to be another person that could just tear through almost anyone.
At 303, this was for me and many others, the only reason to really bother to tune in and watch. The lead in was tremendous and I have never seen a more intense stare-downs in weigh-ins, pre-fight pressers, as well as in the octagon while being introduced by Bruce Buffer.
What made this matchup unique was there wasn't a bunch of pre-fight trash-talking. On the contrary, there was a great deal of mutual respect and respect between the two men, but with both of them talking about their own abilities and how they believe they are the better fighter - which is something that you need to do if you are going to be successful as a fighter in any MMA event.
The actual fight though, well, it was a very one-sided affair that left all of us in awe as far as the Brazilian Pereira is concerned. Jiri is far from being a slouch. He seemed to have nearly everyone's number in all the fights I have seen him in up to this point but in round 1, things were already seeming pretty bad for the man from the Czech Republic.
Jiri was mixing things up and remaining as unpredictable as possible working the legs, threatening with head kicks and body shots all while pushing forward and keeping Alex back-peddling for most of the round and this is normally a good thing. However, Pereira kept his cool, seemed unphased by the strategy and rarely even changed the expression on his face. The first round clearly went 10-9 to Pereira, who used considerably less energy in the first round, which is a HUGE advantage when you have a potential 25 minute fight ahead of you. I was talking to my friend during the round break about how "I don't know what Jiri can possibly do here, nothing is getting through."
Any thoughts that we may have had about strategy adjustments on the part of Jiri coming into round 2 would get dashed almost immediately.
It doesn't happen often, but there have been dozens of people whose preparations, years of training, and overall toughness gets completely dashed when a 120 pound leg hits them square in the temple. As Jiri hit the ground we were shouting for referee Herb Dean to let it keep going for a while and I have to hand it to Herb, he let it go as long as he could. Alex Pereira, being the professional that he is, didn't even initially swarm Jiri as he collapsed to the canvas... instead he stood there to see if Herb was going to call it off and then went in for a few more punches in some ground and pound but it was evident that Jiri was already in dreamland and the fight was called off with a TKO.
Jiri was rocked so badly that it took several people just to get him to his feet and get him to sit in a chair. He would later make no complaints about the loss or about early stoppage because to do so would have been silly. His legs and arm were turned to noodles after the initial kick and Herb was just saving his life and career at that point.
I like Alex Pereira because I don't think he even really wanted to be a part of UFC and was kind of dragged into it because of his decades old rivalry with Israel Adesanya. I expected the man to be a fluke as UFC tends to put people in positions that they don't belong in because of hype, but this time I was wrong. This Pereira is an absolute beast and he is destined for greatness, well, even more greatness than he has already accomplished.
I don't think many people even want to fight him anymore, especially after he made a fight with a guy that was a bit of a "stylebender" himself look as though he had no business even being in a fight with Alex.
In the post-fight interview Joe Rogan was speaking with Alex via an interpreter and was talking about what was on a lot of our minds: What could possibly be next for you? You have already dominated 2 different weight divisions... is there any talk about going up to a 3rd one to be the first person in history to ever win across three weight classes.
It was funny to me that Joe would bring this up because while we in the bar were waiting for the post-fight talks, I suggested to my friend that this Alex Pereira fella might be the only person in the history of UFC that could close the big mouth that is the potential GOAT of MMA, Jon Jones.
This is the entire reason why Joe even posed the question. Jon Jones has been dragging his feet after his easy victory over Ciryl Gane and obtaining the heavyweight belt that he apparently has no desire to maintain or defend. Jones has been tested only a few times in his career but what we see in Periera is a totally different kettle of fish entirely. This guy is like nothing I have ever seen in MMA before. He is calm, he has amazing takedown defense (not that he has faced any real wrestlers yet though) and he is absolutely lethal with his arms and legs.
So is this what the UFC will be pushing for now? It certainly would seem as though that would be the case. They would have to go deep into their pockets to make this fight happen though, because Jones would be justified in thinking that Pereira could put a serious blemish on his otherwise dominant career. He also has a large enough frame that stepping up 15-30 pounds probably wouldn't even slow him down. He could be the Achilles Heel of Jon Jones and maybe Jones isn't interested in facing someone that is this damn good.
It was an amazing fight and it begs the question: Can anyone beat this guy? I know that my attitude of fights of his in the future has been forever changed after his performance at UFC 303. What a fight, what a story, what a fighter!