MANILA, Philippines – It took months to speculate on who would take home the vacant UFC light heavyweight and the interim heavyweight championship belts.
It took only a few minutes to decide on them.
Alex Pereira methodically dismantled former light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka with brutal leg kicks and well-timed strikes.
While seemingly on the ropes after Prochazka came out of the second round with more purpose, an uppercut dazed the latter, who fell to the canvas. Pereira waded in for some hammer strikes before the referee ended it at the 4:08 mark.
It is uncanny how Prochazka didn’t learn from how Pereira defeated former champion Jan Blachowicz. After all, he did it with brutal leg kicks that took the Polish fighter’s legs. And without any power, turned to his striking to defeat him.
Whatever Prochazka’s game plan, he quickly abandoned it as his leg was tenderized within the first two minutes of Round 1. When he chose to engage, he hurt Pereira. And he had him on the ropes in the second round until that fateful uppercut.
Pereira improved to 9-2-0 while Prochazka dropped to 29-4-1.
Over at the heavyweight division, one can say that if you live with the knockout, you get cold clocked by a knockout.
Russian Sergei Pavlovich had looked menacing with six consecutive first-round knockouts. Englishman Tom Aspinall saw his own five-match win streak derailed by a knee injury that saw Curtis Blaydes handed a walk-over win. Aspinall returned with a win over Marcin Tybura to face the menacing Russian.
However bigger and taller Aspinall was against the Russian, it was Pavlovich who rocked the Briton early on.
But Aspinall recovered. A shot to the temple followed by a three-strike combo flattened Pavlovich.
What was even more impressive about Aspinall’s feat was Pavlovich was training in case the Jon Jones-Stipe Miocic match didn’t push through. When that fight was pushed back due to an injury to Jones, Aspinall was given the chance.
And he accomplished the improbable by derailing the Russian freight train in 69 seconds.
“If you ever get the chance to do something, and you're scared to do it, you should definitely do it because there's a chance it's going to pay off,” said Aspinall post-match. “I've never been as scared in my life as fighting this guy. But I've got a lot of power, too, and I believe in myself. This belt is dedicated to my father!"
Aspinall’s record improved to 14-3-0 while Pavlovich saw his record fall to 18-2-0. Both defeats are in the UFC.
Both Pereira and Aspinall were awarded the Performance of the Night Awards and its respective US $50,000 bonus.
The next UFC fight event is scheduled Sunday, November 19 (Manila time), with Brendan Allen (22-5-0) taking on Paul Craig (17-6-1) in the main event of UFC Fight Night. The event will be televised over the Premier Sports channel on Skycable and Cignal as well as on Blast TV.