Pereira stops Ankalaev to reclaim light-heavyweight title

Alex Pereira needed just one minute and 22 seconds to reclaim the light-heavyweight world championship after stopping Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320 in Las Vegas.

The Brazilian's victory came seven months after he was on the end of a unanimous points loss to the Russian at UFC 313.

Pereira, 38, had clearly learned from his defeat in March, where he spent the fight on the back foot, and wasted no time by connecting with a huge right hook.

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

"Vengeance is never a good thing. I told everyone I wasn't in a good position last time but no-one believed it, tonight you saw it," Pereira said after his win.

"It didn't surprise me, I saw it in the first fight. I don't like to make excuses but I wasn't well that night."

Ankalaev was looking for his 13th win in a row but could only land two of his seven significant strikes, while 25 of Pereira's 37 found their target.

Since his UFC debut in 2021, Pereira has quickly transformed into one of the promotion's biggest stars, becoming a two-division champion in only seven fights - a record time.

Upon winning the middleweight title Pereira moved up to light-heavyweight and, after claiming gold, his three defences in 2024 led to him being named the UFC fighter of the year alongside Ilia Topuria.

Pereira faced his biggest test in fighting Ankalaev, with the Russian preventing the Brazilian from landing his huge strikes in their first fight - but that was not a problem the second time around, with Pereira thudding the side of his opponent's head early on.

Ankalaev ended the Brazilian's run of three title defences inside a year in the first encounter but the former champion now has a second defeat on his record - and first since March 2018.

Now locked at one win apiece, a trilogy fight could decide who takes the bragging rights forever.

Despite reclaiming the light-heavyweight title he lost in March, Pereira has eyes on moving up another weight class to heavyweight, according to UFC chief Dana White.

Before the rematch with Ankalaev, Pereira and his team told White of his wishes to make the move to heavyweight. White told the post-fight news conference: "They say they want to fight at heavyweight but I said to focus on tonight first. There are still fights here in this division, but we'll see.

"This guy has been an absolute stud for us. He fights when he's hurt, he doesn't care. He wants to fight everybody and move up to heavyweight. There's a lot of things to talk about after tonight."

When asked what his reservations were on Pereira making the jump, White responded: "He was a middleweight - to jump up two weight classes in the UFC, it's not like jumping up two weight classes in boxing.

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

In the co-main event, Georgia's Merab Dvalishvili claimed a dominant unanimous decision over the USA's Cory Sandhagen to defend his bantamweight world title.

The win was the Georgian's 14th in a row - taking him up to third for longest win streak in UFC history. Just Islam Makhachev and Kamaru Usman, on 15, and Anderson Silva with 16 sit higher.

The judges scored the fight 49-45 49-45 49-46 in favour of the champion.

"I am a machine. I keep getting better. I train hard. I feel like I'm just beginning, I'm just starting and I keep learning," said Dvalishvili post-fight.

Dvalishvili, 34, spent the entirety of the fight on the front foot and constantly had Sandhagen on the defence.

Despite Dvalishvili's confidence and daunting win streak, Sandhagen was not overawed and landed 23 of his 48 significant strikes in the opening round, but the tide turned two minutes into the second round when the Georgian landed heavy with a flurry of strikes.

Sandhagen survived the onslaught but continued to be dominated, with the Georgian setting a new UFC record for the most takedowns in a five-round fight with 20 on the way to victory.