🔗 Share this article

Alex Pereira needed only one minute and 22 seconds to reclaim the light-heavyweight title after overcoming Magomed Ankalaev at the Las Vegas event.

This win occurred half a year after he suffered a unanimous decision loss to the Dagestani fighter at their previous encounter.

Pereira, who had evidently learned from his defeat in March, did not hesitate by landing a massive right hand.

The Vegas crowd erupted as the two-division champion shook the 33-year-old with a clubbing right hand before referee Herb Dean stopped the fight following a number of violent elbows to the head.

"Revenge is never a good thing. I told everyone I was compromised last time but no-one believed it, this evening it was evident," the champion commented after his win.

"I anticipated this, I saw it in the first fight. I don't like to make excuses but I wasn't well on that occasion."

The Russian fighter was seeking his thirteenth victory consecutively but connected with only two of his seven significant strikes, while 25 out of 37 from Pereira found their target.

Since his UFC debut in 2021, Pereira has rapidly evolved into a top draw, achieving a dual-weight titleholder in just seven bouts - an unprecedented pace.

Upon winning the 185-pound championship, he moved up to light-heavyweight and, after claiming gold, his three defences in 2024 resulted in him being named the UFC fighter of the year together with Ilia Topuria.

Pereira encountered his toughest challenge in fighting his rival, with the Russian preventing the Brazilian from connecting with powerful shots in their first fight - but that was not a problem the second time around, with he thudding the side of his adversary's head early on.

The challenger had ended the champion's streak of three successful defenses inside a year in the first encounter but the ex-titleholder now has a another loss on his record - and first since March 2018.

Currently tied at one win apiece, a trilogy fight could decide who takes the ultimate superiority permanently.

The Champion 'Aims to Compete at Heavyweight Division' - White

Despite reclaiming the light-heavyweight title he surrendered in spring, Pereira has eyes on moving up another weight class to the heavyweight class, as stated by UFC chief Dana White.

Before the rematch with his opponent, Pereira and his team told the president of his wishes to make the move to heavyweight. The UFC president stated at the post-fight news conference: "They say he wants to compete in the heavyweight division but I advised to focus on tonight first. There are still fights here, but we'll consider."

"He has been an exceptional athlete for us. He competes when injured, it doesn't matter to him. He wants to fight everybody and move up to the heavyweight class. There's a lot of things to discuss following this event."

When asked what his reservations were on Pereira transitioning divisions, White responded: "He started as a middleweight - to advance two divisions in the organization, it's not like jumping up two weight classes in the sweet science."

"I don't have reservations but he's in a division where there are still so many fights."

'The Machine' Merab Dvalishvili Persists to Write Name in History Books

In the co-main event, The Georgian Merab Dvalishvili claimed a dominant judges' decision over the American his opponent to defend his bantamweight world title.

This victory was the Georgian's 14th consecutive win - taking him up to third for longest win streak in UFC history. Just Islam Makhachev and Kamaru Usman, on fifteen, and another legend with 16 rank above.

The judges scored the fight with wide margins in favor of the champion.

"I'm like a machine. I keep getting better. My training is intense. I feel like my journey is starting, I'm just starting and I continuously develop," said Dvalishvili post-fight.

The Georgian, 34 years old, spent the entirety of the bout on the front foot and constantly had his opponent on the defence.

Although the champion's self-assurance and daunting win streak, Sandhagen was not intimidated and connected with 23 out of 48 power shots in the first round, but the momentum shifted two minutes into the second round when the champion landed heavy with a flurry of strikes.

The American endured the attack but continued to be dominated, with the Georgian establishing a new UFC record for the highest number of takedowns in a five-round fight with twenty on the path to winning.