Alex Pereira won the light heavyweight title with a technical knockout for Magamedo Ankaraev at the UFC 320 in Las Vegas.
Released on October 5, 2025
Alex Pereira revved his incontroversial large-weight championship belt in the highly favored first-round technical knockout (TKO) of Magamed Ankarayev in Las Vegas, causing a boilover in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 320, reviving his uncontroversial large-weight championship belt, reviving Russia’s defeat seven months ago.
Pereira only took 1 minute 20 seconds to defeat Ankaraev after dropping the 33-year-old champion in a contest at T-Mobile Arena with a huge right hook within a minute.
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The Brazilian then finished the fight with punches and gusts of elbows before cancelling the match.
Ankalaev, who never got knocked out in a UFC match, finished 14 unbeaten runs and returned to his promotional debut at the UFC Fight Night in March 2018.
Pre-match Pereira was a decided underdog, with Ankaraev being supported by 89% of the bets in the fight at BetMGM.
Ankalaev (20-2-1, 12-2-1 UFC) had already beaten Pereira (13-3, 10-2 UFC) in his first match at UFC 313 on March 8th. Pereira claimed he fought only 40% of his normal ability due to his injuries.
Pereira’s victory will make him a two-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.
The 38-year-old’s victory revives the photo of a light heavyweight title and takes the belt from Ankaraev’s fighter who did little to inspire hope for the future of the division. Jiri Prochazka won the match with a stunning knockout, awakening the possibility of a third match against Belt Pereira.
In a previous co-main event championship match, Merab Dvalishvili (21-4-0) defended the incontroversial bantamweight crown in a unanimous decision against Cory Sandhagen (18-6-0) in a five-round contest.
The three judges won it in Dvalishvili, 49-45, 49-45 and 49-46.
The most predicted action on the main card began with a light heavyweight war between Pro Chazuka (32-5-1) and Halil Rountree JR (15-7-0). With the likely loss of balance in the third second half, the Czech fighters landed a catastrophic combination and cooled the lone tree for the rest of the two minutes.
Rountree achieved early benefits by landing multiple sets of high-tempered combinations in the first round when Prochazka clearly stumbled second. The exchange also tires the Lone Tree and gives Prochazka the opportunity to find the window in his third blast.
