UFC 320 Main Event Breakdown
UFC 320 went down last week with the highly anticipated rematch between light heavyweight champ Magomed Ankalaev and former champion Alex Pereira. Every high-stakes sports bettor had a Bet on UFC 320.
This included many of the top brass at Stake. The Stake ambassador was recently seen playing poker on Stake right before UFC 320. Tensions were high as there was a lot of back-and-forth between the two going into the fight. A lot of fans assumed it was Magomed’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, using Ankalaev’s X account, but it did the job to stir drama.
The First Fight
In their first meeting, “Poatan” was hesitant from the beginning of their match, and Magomed took full advantage. Ankalaev was able to grind out a five-round decision by pressuring and clinching Pereira to win the title.
After the first fight, many critics felt that the aura of Poatan was broken. They felt that this fight exposed his ground game and laid the blueprint for future opponents.
Pereira vowed to come back stronger and take his title back from Ankalaev in the rematch.
The Rematch
The newly crowned champions Ankalaev came into the rematch as the betting favorite at -180 on Stake.com. Magomed felt that there was nothing that Pereira could do differently to change the result of the previous match.
Pereira claimed to have adapted his training and promised fans they’d see an aggressive Poatan again on fight night.
From the moment the two fighters weighed in on Friday, everyone noticed a different vibe this time around. The former champ had a dark energy and was solely focused on the task at hand.
When the first round bell rang, the tone of the rematch was vastly different from their first fight. Pereira wasn’t hesitant at all and met Ankalaev right in the middle of the octagon.
The champ stayed on his bike circling as Alex stalked him, feinted leg kicks, and walked forward. Magomed found himself with his back to the cage.
Poatan unleashed a devastating right hand that instantly rocked the champ. Ankalaev instinctively went for a double leg on Pereira, and that spelled the end for the champ.
The former champ laid down a barrage of vicious strikes and dropped multiple 12-6 elbows onto Ankalaev’s ribs and head. These same ribs were reportedly injured coming into the fight, and Pereira immediately targeted them.
In just 80 seconds into the fight, Herb Dean stopped the fight and the crowd went wild. Alex Pereira regains the light heavyweight title by TKO at 1:20 of the first round.
Post-Fight Reaction
Social media went wild after Pereira’s spectacular win. One notable comment was Renato Moicano claiming that Poatan is now “the greatest Brazilian fighter ever.”
Another big story that came from the fight was former champion Jiri Prochazka’s reaction to the finish. After knocking out Khalil Rountree, Prochazka was front and center to watch the main event.
Jiri was overcome with happiness and was nearly in tears as he saw Pereira regain the world title.
This satisfaction was mainly due to the insults that Magomed(or his manager, Ali) hurled at him on Twitter. Many fans would love to see a future fight between Ankalaev and Prochazka to settle the beef.
After the fight, the newly crowned champ claimed that a super-fight with him and an unnamed opponent was in the works. Many fans assumed that the unnamed opponent was former heavyweight champ and UFC GOAT Jon Jones.
Middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev also claimed that he would be part of this super-fight against Pereira. Either way, things have gotten interesting, and we love the possible future matchups.
