UFC 303 was supposed to mark Conor McGregor’s return to the Octagon. But his highly anticipated bout against Michael Chandler was canceled (for now) due to an injury McGregor suffered before the fight.
But give credit to the UFC, which moved quickly to replace the main event and salvage a pay-per-view card that suffered some other setbacks. And the new main event should be pretty exciting for fight fans: Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka face off again, with Pereira winning the light heavyweight title against former champion Prochazka last November.
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This upcoming fight on the UFC 303 card was completely exciting. But fans probably weren’t too thrilled with the actual contest – certainly not the fans at T-Mobile Arena, as they booed after the final horn.
The most important moment of the fight was found in the second round, when Dolidze landed some ground-and-pound on a downed Smith. But otherwise, the fight was fairly uneventful and Dolidze won via unanimous decision (30–27, 29–28, 29–28).
Chiasson opened Huge Bueno cut Silva with a brutal elbow just above the eye while the pair were on the ground during the second round. The fight was eventually stopped for medical evaluation by the referee and the ringside doctor called the fight. (John Anik reported that the cut was so deep that it almost “reached the bone.”) Thus, this high-incident bout ended in a bloody but unfavorable ending in Chiasson’s favor.
Bueno Silva strongly protested the decision to stop the fight, even jumping from the cage to discuss it with UFC President Dana White.
It was a close fight and an interesting clash of styles. Page had the clear striking advantage, but Machado Gary proved to be the better wrestler. In the end, the judges awarded Machado Gary the victory by unanimous decision with 29–28 scores across the board.
Machado Gary has not suffered a defeat yet in his MMA career.
Pifer ends prelims with a bang. He knocked out Barriault with some heavy punches just 1:25 into the fight. Three of the four prelims ended with stoppages. The action is expected to continue on the main card.
Brian Ortega has been pulled from his UFC 303 fight, but his opponent is still set to compete.
Jon Anik reported on the broadcast that Ortega was ill and had a fever of 103 degrees. Jeff Mullen of the Nevada State Athletic Commission said on the broadcast that Ortega is “medically unable to compete.”
However, Diego Lopes is still making the jump into the octagon. He will face Dan Ige, who was chosen as a last-minute (truly unprecedented) replacement. Mullen said Ige has been cleared to compete because he has struggled so much recently and all of his medicals are up to date in the eyes of the commission.
A card that has faced a lot of obstacles has somehow overcome another obstacle.
Fili defeated Swanson in a split decision. Two judges scored for Fili (29–28) while one judge ruled in Swanson’s favor 29–28.
Now we are cooking. Jean Silva dropped Charles Jourdain with a vicious uppercut to score his second consecutive knockout on this card. This brought an abrupt end to the fight at 1:22 of the second round. However, Silva missed weight before the fight.
Our first stop! Payton Talbot proved why he was a big favorite in this fight, dropping Gammory to the canvas with a brutal right and following it up with strikes that forced the referee to stop the fight just 19 seconds in.
Robertson finished the preliminary prelims with an impressive unanimous decision win (30-27, 30-27, 30-26). Waterson-Gomez announced her retirement in an emotional scene after the fight. The UFC played a great tribute video for him and Waterson-Gomez gave an emotional speech.
Not much happened in this. Competitors were encouraged to be more active several times by the referee and were scolded at the final horn. The judges ruled it a split decision in Bude’s favor (30–27, 29–28 to a 29–28 card for the 45-year-old Arlovski).
In a match defined by wild grappling, it was Tsuruya – in his UFC debut – who emerged victorious. He won by unanimous decision with scores of 29–28 on all three scorecards.
Oliveira and Simon went the distance, with Oliveira winning by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 29–28).
Early prelims begin Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. The prelims are then expected to begin at approximately 8 p.m. ET and the pay-per-view card will begin at approximately 10 p.m. ET.
UFC 303 preliminary prelims and prelims will air on ESPN and can be streamed via ESPN+. Pay-per-view cards can be purchased through ESPN+.
UFC 303 has returned to its usual home base – T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Speculation that the McGregor-Chandler fight could be in trouble began when the UFC abruptly canceled a June 3 press conference that was scheduled to be held in Dublin. Ten days later, UFC president Dana White announced that the fight was moved from the 303 card due to McGregor’s injury. It has since been revealed that the injury was a broken toe.
McGregor last fought in July 2021, when he lost due to a doctor’s stoppage after breaking his leg in a fight against Dustin Poirier.
| alex perera | Vs | Jiri Prochazka |
| 10-2-0 | record | 30-4-1 |
| brazil | Country | Czechia |
| 6-4 | Height | 6-3 |
| 220 | weight | 218 |
| 79 inches | reach | 80 inches |
| 44 inches | reach foot | 45 inches |
Alex Pereira defeated Jiri Prochazka by second-round TKO in their fight for the then-vacant Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 295 in November.
Before capturing the light heavyweight title, Pereira – a kickboxing standout – was the middleweight champion. He defeated Israel Adesanya by TKO at UFC 281 in December 2022 to win the belt, but Adesanya gained revenge by defeating Pereira in a rematch at UFC 287 in April 2023 to regain the title.
After the loss, Perera moved up to light heavyweight. He has had one successful title defense since winning the belt in November and defeating Jamahl Hill at UFC 300 in April.
Jiri Prochazka defeated Glover Teixeira via submission at UFC 275 in June 2022 to win the light heavyweight title. But he was never able to make a proper defense and vacated the title due to injury. His next appearance in the Octagon was a loss to Perera in November 2023.
This post was published on 06/29/2024 8:50 pm
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