UFC 303: Alex Pereira vs. Jiri Prochazka 2: Full results

UFC 303 just wrapped up. The event took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 29 and featured 13 fights in 10 divisions. Despite undergoing several changes over the last few weeks, it produced fights and performances best suited for the event headlining International Fight Week. Let's recap the fights and look at the full results.

In the main event, light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and former title holder Jiri Prochazka competed in a short-notice rematch. The fight was put together after Conor McGregor was forced to pull out of his fight against Michael Chandler due to injury.

Pereira defeated Prochazka by a second-round TKO to win the 205-pound title at UFC 295 in November last year. However, many felt that the stoppage was premature, although Prochazka admitted it to be a fair win for the Brazilian.

While some suspected how Pereira vs. Prochazka 2 might play out given the short window for preparation, both men utilized their experience to fight a technical but grueling contest.

Prochazka pressed the action from the beginning but Pereira landed a few stinging left kicks, body jabs, and hooks to back up the challenger.

Prochazka's feints failed to draw reactions from 'Poatan’ and he was hit with solid shots in the clinch. Pereira viciously knocked the Czech fighter down at the end of Round 1 with the trademark left hook as he tried to charge forward.

Prochazka, who could not recover from the blow heading into the second round, was knocked out cold with a head kick in the opening seconds of the stanza. The referee stepped in after a few follow-up strikes to save Prochazka from absorbing unnecessary punishment.

The win was special given that all five of Pereira's most recent wins have come against reigning and former middleweight and light heavyweight champions.

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UFC 303: Diego Lopes defeats Dan Ige in co-main event

In the co-main event, former featherweight title challenger and No.3-ranked contender Brian Ortega was scheduled to fight No.14-ranked rising contender Diego Lopes. This was expected to be Ortega's final featherweight outing as he plans to try his hand at lightweight.

However, Ortega was unable to make weight for the division and Lopes agreed to fight at lightweight. Unfortunately, Ortega was deemed medically unfit to continue and was replaced by No.13-ranked Dan Ige on approximately three hours' notice.

Ige, who was in the training camp to face Chepe Mariscal on July 20, appeared to be in good shape as both men started the fight on a cautious note. Lopes used his Brazilian jiu-jitsu background to his advantage and controlled Ige on the ground. However, Ige’s defensive grappling stopped a submission and ground-and-pound.

Ige landed the more powerful shots up top in the stand-up, while Lopes had the most success with leg kicks. The Brazilian was visibly fatigued by the third round. He struggled to stand with Ige, who ended the fight on a high note battering ground-and-pound shots until the final bell.

Lopes, who has gone from a completely unknown short-notice debutant to a fan-favorite ranked contender in less than a year, did enough to convince the judges and walked away with a unanimous decision victory.

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UFC 303 results: Ian Machado Garry, Macy Chiasson, and Roman Dolidze emerge victorious on the undercard

After the original Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. fight fell apart, the second light heavyweight fight on the main card underwent several changes and transformed into a short-notice fight between Anthony Smith and middleweight contender Roman Dolidze.

After trading leg kicks for the majority of the first round, the fighters opened up toward the end of Round 1. Dolidze controlled Smith on the ground for a large stretch of the second round and showed a competitive stand-up game, earning a unanimous decision win in the process.

Former UFC women's bantamweight title challenger Mayra Bueno Silva fought Macy Chiasson on the main card. After Silva appeared to have won a competitive first round, a slicing elbow from Chiasson in the second round opened a gash above the Brazilian's eye that got increasingly worse as the fight progressed. The referee stopped the fight after the cage-side doctor ruled Silva unable to continue due to the gnarly cut and Chiasson was declared the winner by TKO.

The main card opening bout was an intriguing stylistic matchup of elite welterweight strikers in Ian Machado Garry and Michael 'Venom' Page. While both men were confident in their skills, Page proved to be the more effective striker and landed the most significant strikes of the fight with his trademark blitzes.

Garry took a more grappling-heavy approach and won the majority of grappling exchanges, effortlessly taking the back and threatening with submissions and ground-and-pound attacks. However, he had little to offer in the stand-up as Page appeared to be faster with his reflexes.

Page's takedown defense held up in the second round but Garry secured a unanimous decision win on the back of effective grappling in Rounds 1 and 3. The win extends Garry's UFC win streak to eight.

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UFC 303 prelims: Joe Pyfer and Payton Talbott score devastating KO wins

The preliminary card headlining bout saw middleweight contender Joe Pyfer fight Marc-Andre Barriault. After starting his career on a positive note with three straight victories, Pyfer suffered his first UFC loss against veteran fighter Jack Hermansson in his last outing.

His performance against Barriault showed that Pyfer learned from the loss as he took an aggressive yet more patient approach. An overhand right in Round 1 rocked Barriault, who backed up against the cage with a high guard.

After a few shots failed to breach it, Pyfer went around the guard with a looping right hand that connected behind Barriault's ear and knocked him out on impact. The finishing sequence was reminiscent of Conor McGregor's KO of Dustin Poirier at UFC 178.

Cub Swanson, who is one of the last veteran fighters from the WEC era of the featherweight division still active in the UFC, returned to completion against Andre Fili at UFC 303. Fili won the back-and-forth affair by split decision. However, audience reactions suggested that fans were more inclined toward Swanson.

Dynamic finisher Jean Silva became the first fighter to stop the durable Charles Jourdain with strikes. What started as a relatively close contest quickly turned into a one-sided fight for Silva as Jourdain had little to offer him on the feet and was knocked down in Round 1. The Canadian fighter was viciously knocked out in Round 2 with a right uppercut. This was Silva's 10th KO victory.

Highly touted bantamweight prospect, Payton Talbott, took on Yanis Ghemmouri in the preliminary card opening bout. Talbott was the biggest betting favorite on the card. His performance justified the betting odds as he finished Ghemmouri within 20 seconds to score his third UFC victory. All three of Talbott's UFC wins have come in a combined cage time of 1 minute 38 seconds.

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UFC 303 early prelims: Veteran fighters Michelle Waterson-Gomez and Andrei Arlovski suffer losses

On the early prelims, Michelle Waterson-Gomez lost to Gillian Robertson via unanimous decision. The loss marked Waterson-Gomez's fifth straight defeat and seventh in her last 10 fights.

Former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski suffered a split-decision loss against a much younger Martin Buday. Meanwhile, Rei Tsuruya handed a unanimous decision loss to Carlos Hernandez, who has now been beaten by two Japanese prospects in back-to-back fights. He suffered a second-round T/KO loss against Tatsuro Taira in December 2023.

In the first fight of the night, Vinicius Oliveira outpointed Ricky Simon to score his second UFC win.

Check out the full UFC 303 results below:

Main Card

Light heavyweight - Alex Pereira def. Jiri Prochazka by T/KO (R2, 0:13) (Light heavyweight title fight)

Catchweight (165 pounds) - Diego Lopes def. Dan Ige by unanimous decision (29-28 X 3)

Light heavyweight - Roman Dolidze def. Anthony Smith by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 X 3)

Women's bantamweight - Macy Chiasson def. Mayra Bueno Silva by TKO (Doctor stoppage due to cut above the eye) (R2, 1:58)

Welterweight - Ian Machado Garry def. Michael Page by unanimous decision (29-28 X 3)

Preliminary Card

Middleweight - Joe Pyfer def. Marc-Andre Barriault by T/KO (R1, 1:25)

Featherweight - Andre Fili def. Cub Swanson by split decision (29-28 X 2, 28-29)

Featherweight - Jean Silva def. Charles Jourdain by T/KO (R2, 1:22) (Silva missed weight by 1.5 pounds)

Bantamweight - Payton Talbott def. Yanis Ghemmouri by T/KO (R1, 0:19)

Early Prelims

Women's strawweight - Gillian Robertson def. Michelle Waterson-Gomez by unanimous decision (30-27 X 3)

Heavyweight - Martin Buday def. Andrei Arlovski by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)

Flyweight - Rei Tsuruya def. Carlos Hernandez by unanimous decision (29-28 X 3)

Bantamweight -Vinicius Oliveira def. Ricky Simon by unanimous decision (30-27 X 2, 29-28)