Pereira lost his title to Ankalaev on the scorecards when they met back at UFC 313 in March, but in the rematch, the Brazilian was in no mood to let the judges get involved again.
Right from the start of the bout, Pereira came charging across the Octagon and let fly with a combination of strikes. It put Ankalaev on the back foot, and showed the crowd that this version of “Poatan” was all business.
The Brazilian kept the pressure on as he backed up the champion and uncorked a huge right hand that badly hurt Ankalaev. Pereira kept the pressure on and, after Ankalaev eventually folded to the canvas, Pereira hammered him with elbows until referee Herb Dean waved off the bout.
It was all over in just 80 seconds as Pereira reclaimed his light heavyweight throne in emphatic fashion. But the Brazilian wasn’t quite done, as he stopped his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan to ask the T-Mobile Arena crowd for a moment of silence to pay their collective respects for the passing of Super Bowl-winning former Baltimore Ravens star Arthur Jones, brother of UFC great Jon Jones.
In the co-main event, undisputed bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili underscored his greatness as he notched his third successive championship defense in 2025 with a dominant win over Cory Sandhagen.
Sandhagen started the fight impressively, but Dvalishvili came storming back in the second round and came close to stopping the challenger with strikes in a round that was scored as a 10-8 by two of the three Octagonside judges.
While he might not have earned the finish, Dvalishvili did go on to dominate the remainder of the fight as he ran out a clear winner on all three scorecards, 49-45, 49-45, 49-46.
His victory also took his active win streak to 14, as he surpassed the likes of Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway as he moved into fourth place in the UFC’s all-time longest win streak list, one behind Kamaru Usman and Islam Makhachev, and two behind all-time leader Anderson Silva on 16.
In the featured main card matchup at light heavyweight, former 205-pound champion Jiri Prochazka dug deep to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat as he produced a thrilling fightback to stop Khalil Rountree in the last round.
Rountree looked outstanding through the opening two rounds as he comprehensively outstruck a strangely out-of-sorts Prochazka, who seemingly had no answer to the former title challengers, tight, sharp striking style.
But, two rounds down and staring defeat in the face, Prochazka came out for the third round and engaged berserker mode as he threw caution to the wind and trusted his skills, and his chin, in a wild firefight of a final frame.
Both men landed huge shots, but as the round wore on it was Prochazka’s strikes that had the greater effect as he started to break down Rountree with a constant barrage of unorthodox strikes. Those strikes eventually overwhelmed Rountree before Prochazka landed the coup-de-grace, with a huge punch that knocked out Rountree with less than two minutes left in the fight.
It was an astonishing comeback from the former champion, who declared himself next in line for a shot at the championship.
Also on the main card, rising featherweight contender Youssef Zalal picked up a huge victory as he submitted former title challenger Josh Emmett an armbar after just 98 seconds. And in the main card opener, Joe Pyfer bounced back from a rough opening round to overwhelm, then finish, Abus Magomedov, with a face crank submission securing the victory in the second round.
The preliminary card saw notable stoppage victories for hard-hitting Cameroonian Ateba Gautier, for Brazilian featherweight Daniel Santos, and American middleweight Edmen Shahbazyan. And there was a big win for debuting former KSW bantamweight champion Jakub Wiklacz, who edged a split-decision verdict against former Bellator champion Patchy Mix.
UFC 320: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Alex Pereira def. Magomed Ankalaev via TKO (punches and elbows) – Round 1, 1:20 – for light heavyweight title
- Merab Dvalishvili def. Cory Sandhagen via unanimous decision (49-45, 49-45, 49-46) – for bantamweight title
- Jiri Prochazka def. Khalil Rountree via knockout (punch) – Round 3, 3:04
- Youssef Zalal def. Josh Emmett via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 1:38
- Joe Pyfer def. Abus Magomedov via submission (face crank) – Round 2, 1:38
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Ateba Gautier def. Tre’ston Vines via knockout (punches and elbows) – Round 1:41
- Daniel Santos def. JooSang Yoo via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 0:21
- Jakub Wiklacz def. Patchy Mix via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Edmen Shahbazyan def. Andre Muniz via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 4:58
EARLY PRELIMS
- Punahele Soriano def. Nikolay Veretennikov via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Yana Santos def. Macy Chiasson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Farid Basharat def. Chris Gutierrez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Ramiz Brajimaj def. Austin Vanderford via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 2:37
- Veronica Hardy def. Brogan Walker via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
