Alex Pereira breaks down UFC 303 knockout; responds to Magomed Ankalaev, Jamahal Hill callouts

Alex Pereira and his workforce have been rewarded for leaving no stone unturned when it got here to their pre-fight planning.

A little bit of last-second movie research proved to play a serious function in Pereira’s second profitable protection of his UFC mild heavyweight title, which headlined UFC 303 in Las Vegas on Saturday. Pereira met Jiri Prochazka in a rematch and as soon as once more completed the Czech warrior through strikes, this time catching him with a head kick that signaled the start of the tip.

Pereira had already rocked Prochazka badly on the finish of Spherical 1, then opened Spherical 2 with a excessive kick that he later defined was arrange because of his coaches watching Prochazka’s warmup on Instagram earlier within the night.

“Truly, I used to be within the locker room speaking to Plinio, one among my coaches, and he confirmed me the video of Jiri warming up,” Pereira mentioned on the night’s post-fight press convention through a Portuguese translator. “I noticed that he was planning to counterattack that calf kick. Defend and counter. However I instructed Plinio that he was doing the fallacious timing, the timing was not good.

“So I noticed that he was too targeted on not taking that kick and he was conserving his fingers down and leaving the pinnacle uncovered. So I instructed him, I’m going to discover the excessive kick.”

Discover the excessive kick Pereira did, and it related superbly, giving him two wins now over his revered rival. Prochazka isn’t any stranger to highlight-reel knockouts himself, however he’s but to determine the best way to beat Pereira to the punch (or kick, on this case).

The 2 stepped in on short-notice to offer UFC 303 with a brand new important occasion after a Conor McGregor toe harm pressured the cancellation of his initially scheduled headliner towards Michael Chandler. Pereira and Prochazka will ceaselessly be linked when speaking about this period of fighters, and the bond will not be misplaced on the champion.

“I used to be targeted,” Pereira mentioned of his intense pre-fight staredown with Prochazka within the cage. “I used to be taking a look at any person that was targeted, a warrior. It simply gave me extra motivation to do what I did.”

An identical staredown occurred of their first combat, which additionally ended with Pereira catching Prochazka within the standup. Requested if there have been any changes between their two fights, Pereira answered that no drastic modifications have been made and that he continues to steadily enhance.

“No, nothing new on my finish,” Pereira mentioned. “I feel I’m nonetheless within the strategy of evolution of MMA, I maintain evolving so much. He’s a man that’s older, been coaching for longer, so he most likely [knew] issues so much higher, however not now.”

Followers are clamoring to determine what’s subsequent for Pereira, who has already received UFC titles at mild heavyweight and middleweight, and will change into the group’s first-ever three-division champion if he jumps to heavyweight. Pereira mentioned he plans to relaxation earlier than deciding his subsequent transfer.

That hasn’t stopped his rivals from calling him out, together with presumptive No. 1 contender Magomed Ankalaev and previous opponent Jamahal Hill, each of whom chimed in on social media after Saturday’s important occasion.

“All people deserves, however I’m not the man to ask,” Pereira mentioned of Ankalaev’s problem. “You’ve obtained to speak to Dana White.”

“Anyone,” he added when requested once more if he desires to combat Ankalaev.

As for Hill, Pereira was even shorter in his response: “OK.”