After Conor McGregor’s broken pinky toe caused the cancellation of the former double champion’s fight against Michael Chandler, the UFC went into event-saving mode. And while the new headliner for Saturday’s card may not be of the caliber as the biggest star in the sport making his return after nearly three years out of the Octagon, there will at least be a championship belt on the line.
UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira (10-2, 8 KOs) agreed to run it back with former champion Jiří Procházka (30-4, 26 KOs) on Saturday (10 p.m. ET, ESPN+ PPV) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. And just like that, the show will go on. The two met in the cage previously at UFC 295 in November with Pereira claiming the vacant light heavyweight title with a second-round TKO.
In an unprecedented move, the co-main event featured a truly last-minute bout at 165 pounds between rising prospect Diego Lopes and late-notice replacement Dan Ige. Lopes was originally supposed to fight Brian Ortega, but Ortega dropped out Saturday due to illness and was replaced by Ige just hours before the PPV broadcast began. Lopes nearly finished the fight in the first round, but Ige fought off several submission attempts. Once the third round his, it was Lopes who was gassed out and not his short-notice replace. But Lopes had built up enough of a lead to earn the unanimous decision in the unprecedented bout.
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IT’S ALL OVER!! HEAD KICK KO FOR PEREIRA!!
Oh man. Pereira knocks Jiri down at the horn of round 1. 10 seconds more and that could have been it. Absolute beaut of a left hook.
The main event is next: Alex Pereira vs. Jiří Procházka
Who they are: Pereira is the reigning 205-pound champ and the former 185-pound champ, either of which would be impressive enough. The fact that he’s done all that in just under three years with the UFC makes it almost unbelievable. Procházka was the champ for a minute before a shoulder injury forced him to give up the belt. He pulled off a big knockout win on the UFC 300 undercard in April, which means he has the advantage over Pereira in rest time between fights by roughly one hour.
Why it matters: Well, it’s for the UFC 205-pound title, isn’t it? Pereira is brimming with confidence at this stage of his title reign. He’s remained very busy, and this will be his fourth fight in less than a year. That’s a lot for a light heavyweight and a whole lot for a current champ. Will it equal momentum or burnout? Procházka hopes it’s the latter, because if he loses a second time to Pereira there probably won’t be an offer for a third.
Lopes calls out Brian Ortega or Alexander Volkanovski at Las Vegas Sphere in September
RESULT: Diego Lopes def. Dan Ige by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
29-28 Diego Lopes but Dan Ige absolutely, positively did not lose tonight.
Ige deserves all the credit and he gave Lopes his toughest fight she he faced Movsar Evloev in his debut #UFC303
