In the UFC 300 main event on Saturday, Alex Pereira successfully defended his light heavyweight title, knocking out Jamahal Hill in the first round.
Jamahal Hill was returning from a lengthy spell on the sidelines after he ruptured his Achilles in a basketball game earlier last year. ‘Sweetdreams’ relinquished the 205lb title so that the division could move forward.
Alex Pereira was coming into the bout as the more recently active fighter, having won the vacant light heavyweight title against Jiri Prochazka back in November.
Alex Pereira sleeps ‘Sweetdreams’ in the first round of the UFC 300 main event
During fight week, tensions between these two men began to rise after an initial showing of respect between the two.
The UFC 300 press conference this past Thursday was the turning point, as Jamahal Hill began to trash-talk Pereira, bringing a Moai statue prop on stage with him, taunting the Brazilian champion.
From that moment, ‘Poatan’s’ energy changed, and things didn’t stay amicable between the two.
During the 36-year-old champion’s patented walkout, Hill decided to try and get as close a look as possible as he stood on the opposite side of the cage, summoning the Brazilian into the Octagon.
The monumental main event began with a feeling-out process that didn’t last all too long. A few heavy calf kicks landed for Pereira, with the 32-year-old challenger not landing anything of note through the first two minutes.
Hill threw a kick that hit the cup of Pereira, briefly pausing the action before ‘Poatan’ pushed Herb Dean away so he could carry on with the fight.
Just seconds later, the Brazilian landed his notorious shovel left hook, uppercut hybrid, dropping Jamahal Hill. Pereira followed Hill down to the mat where he began reigning down vicious ground and pound.
After bouncing Hill’s head off the canvas a few more times, Herb Dean stepped in and called it a night.
Alex Pereira calls for a heavyweight title fight at UFC 301 next month
Following the fight, Pereira was presented with his jiu-jitsu black belt by head coach, Glover Teixeira, as he and his team celebrated their title defense.
Before his historical UFC 300 main event, Pereira flirted with the idea of making a quick turnaround to fight on the promotion’s scheduled UFC 301 event in Rio de Janeiro, on May 4th.
After making easy work of Jamahal Hill, that became very possible.
In his Octagon interview, Pereira outlined his desire to fight in his home country, stating that he wants to fight for the heavyweight title.
“I talked a lot about fighting in Brazil if I won this fight, I won this fight, I’m not hurt nothing happened, I know there needs to be a lot of promotion behind a fight, but I want to have a fight at heavyweight (at UFC 301).” Pereira admitted.
Although Pereira didn’t directly name Tom Aspinall – the current interim UFC heavyweight champion- both fighters have previously talked about the possibility of that fight.
The Brit has made it clear that he wants to defend his interim title instead of waiting for the culmination of Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic. Most recently, Aspinall has mentioned that he wants to defend his belt against Curtis Blaydes on the UFC’s rumored return to Manchester in July.
Despite Aspinall’s original desires, a fight with Alex Pereira in Brazil next month may be enough to sway his original plans. With there being no clear contender at 205lbs, now would be a reasonable time for the Brazilian to test himself at heavyweight.
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