Monster Energy congratulates 36-year-old Brazilian MMA athlete
Alex Pereira on defeating
Jiri Prochazka to retain his UFC
Men's Light Heavyweight title at UFC 303 in Las Vegas.
LAS
VEGAS, July 1, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ --
36-Year-Old MMA Athlete from Brazil Maintains Championship Title in
Rematch Against Czech Fighter, Receives UFC's $50,000 Performance of the Night Bonus for Fifth
Time / Brazil's Diego Lopes
Defeats Hawaiian Dan Ige via Unanimous Decision in Catchweight Bout
on Main Card.
"I've been saying all week that I was going
to come out and be victorious! I didn't know how I was going to
win, but I knew I was going to leave this Octagon happy." -
Alex Pereira
Monster Energy congratulates 36-year-old Brazilian MMA athlete
Alex Pereira on defeating
Jiri Prochazka to retain his UFC
Men's Light Heavyweight title at UFC 303 in Las Vegas. In the event's headline fight, the
reigning champion from São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, shut down his opponent via knockout at
0:13 minutes of Round 2.
Aside from defending his title for the second time, Pereira also
received the UFC's $50,000
Performance of the Night Bonus for the fifth time since joining the
UFC in 2021.
Also on the Main Card, 29-year-old Diego
Lopes from Manaus, Brazil,
faced off against 32-year-old Dan Ige from Honolulu, Hawaii, in a catchweight bout at 165
pounds. When all was said and done, Lopes emerged as the winner by
unanimous decision after three rounds.
UFC 303: Pereira vs. Procházka 2 was contested in front of
18,881 spectators inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main Card featured five fights,
which were broadcast live on ESPN, and the preliminary bouts were
streamed on the ESPN+ platform.
Monster Energy's Pereira (11-2) stepped into the Octagon as the
reigning UFC Men's Light Heavyweight Champion. He most recently
defended his title with a knockout victory over Jamahal Hill at UFC300 in Las Vegas in April
2024.
Pereira's opponent, Czech fighter Jiri
Prochazka (30-5-1), most recently knocked out Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 300 to earn a shot at
challenging Pereira for the title.
Pereira vs. Procházka 2 was a highly anticipated rematch after
the two fighters initially clashed for the vacant UFC Men's Light
Heavyweight title at UFC 295 in New York
City in November. Pereira emerged as the new champion after
a vicious second-round knockout. Now Prochazka received his second
shot!
The intensity was palpable as Pereira and Prochazka engaged in
the Octagon at UFC 303. Round 1 saw both fighters gauge their
opponent's defenses, as Pereira chipped away with leg kicks and
Prochazka fired back with unpredictable left hooks. In a key
moment, the opening round ended on a dramatic note when Pereira
knocked down the challenger with a fierce left hook right before
time, leaving Prochazka stumbling for the safety of his corner
after the bell.
Wasting no time in the second round, Pereira immediately sensed
an opening for a brutal head kick that sent Prochazka straight to
the canvas. Finalizing his victory, Pereira followed up with
relentless ground-and-pound from the top until referee Herb Dean ended the fight at 0:13 minutes of
Round 2.
The precise head kick knockout earned Pereira the UFC's
$50,000 Performance of the Night
Bonus for the fifth time since joining the UFC in 2021.
"I've been saying all week that I was going to come out and be
victorious! I didn't know how I was going to win, but I knew I was
going to leave this Octagon happy," said Monster Energy's Pereira
upon defending his 205-pound division title at UFC 303 in
Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Saturday night's victory marks the second successful title
defense for UFC Men's Light Heavyweight champion Pereira. The
Brazilian earned both defenses by knockout and is now on a
four-fight win streak. Over the course of 13 professional fights,
Pereira has claimed two UFC Championship titles.
In his previous career, Pereira was a WGP Kickboxing
Middleweight Champion of the World. He held Glory MMA Middleweight
and Light Heavyweight Champion titles and ranks as a Glory MMA Hall
of Famer. Pereira made his UFC debut in November 2021 at UFC 268 and claimed the UFC's
Middleweight Championship title by defeating Israel Adesanya at UFC 281.
What's next for Pereira? Asked about possibly moving up to the
UFC's Heavyweight division for a chance to become a three-division
champion, the Brazilian answered: "I think that's in my future. I
say it a lot. I'm here, I'm available, and I think that's in my
future." Stay tuned for more from this history-making MMA
phenomenon!
Earlier on the UFC 303 Main Card, a catchweight fight at 165
pounds between Diego Lopes and Dan
Ige replaced the initially slated co-main event.
Monster Energy's Lopes (25-6) came into the fight after most
recently stopping Sodiq Yusuff at UFC 300 in April. The
featherweight fighter was supposed to face Brian Ortega at UFC 303. But when Ortega bowed
out of the fight, fellow Monster Energy fighter Ige (18-8) stepped
in as a replacement with only four hours advance notice. Ige had
previously stopped Andre Fili at a
UFC Fight Night in February 2024.
In the opening round, Lopes brought the pressure and nearly
submitted Ige with a D'Arce arm triangle chokehold. Ige escaped and
continued to look for openings to snipe punches. In Round 2, Lopes
again dominated on the ground and nearly locked in a choke from
behind to earn a submission but proved unable to lock down Ige.
In the final round, Ige's strikes to the head and body clearly
spelled trouble for Lopes. But the Brazilian scored a single-leg
takedown with two minutes on the clock and kept control of the
fight with his superior grappling skills. When all was said and
done after three rounds, the judges pronounced Lopes the winner by
unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
"All respect to Dan Ige," said Lopes in his post-fight
interview, adding: "Not many guys take a fight on three hours'
notice. Whomever, wherever, however. I was going to fight at 145
pounds. At 4 in the morning, it was 155 pounds. Today, I found out
the fight was changing again. It doesn't matter. I will fight
anybody!"
UFC President Dana White
commended the two fighters for making the bout happen: "You
couldn't have two bigger studs than these two guys tonight.
Incredible."
Alex Pereira, Diego Lopes, and Dan Ige count amongst Monster
Energy's elite UFC athletes along with Kamaru Usman, Jon Jones, Chris
Weidman, Rose Namajunas, Marlon
Vera, Michael Chandler,
Justin Gaethje, Yair Rodriguez, Jessica-Rose Clark, Valentina Shevchenko,
Brandon Moreno, Daniel Rodriguez, Punahele Soriano, Gilbert Burns, Giga Chikadze, Johnny Walker, Beneil Dariush, Gaston Bolanos, Brendan
Allen, Jalin Turner,
Sean Strickland, Zhang Weili,
Raul Rosas Jr., Daniel Zellhuber, Derrick Lewis, Belal
Muhammad, Alexa Grasso, and
Cameron Saaiman.
For more on Monster Energy's MMA athletes, visit
http://www.monsterenergy.com. Follow Monster Energy on YouTube,
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
About Monster Energy
Based in Corona, California,
Monster Energy is the leading marketer of energy drinks and
alternative beverages. Refusing to acknowledge the traditional,
Monster Energy supports the scene and sport. Whether motocross,
off-road, NASCAR, MMA, BMX, surf, snowboard, ski, skateboard, or
the rock and roll lifestyle, Monster Energy is a brand that
believes in authenticity and the core of what its sports, athletes,
and musicians represent. More than a drink, it's the way of life
lived by athletes, sports, bands, believers, and fans. See more
about Monster Energy including all of its drinks at
http://www.monsterenergy.com.
Media Contact
Kimberly Paige
Dresser, Indie Agency, Inc., (949) 300-5546,
kim.dresser@indiepragency.com, https://www.indiepragency.com
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