Alex Pereira, a newcomer to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), has quickly established himself as a two-division champion after only seven bouts. In UFC 295, held at Madison Square Garden in New York, Pereira, also known as “Poatan”, won the vacant light heavyweight belt with a second-round knockout of Jiri Prochazka. This victory marks Pereira’s ninth, as he already clinched the middleweight title last November also at Madison Square Garden, making him the ninth fighter in the Las Vegas-based promotion to hold two belts.
The UFC 295 event was significant for more reasons than one. Within the UFC, nine two-division champions exist and Pereira now belongs to this exclusive circle; these champions include Jon Jones, Henry Cejudo, Amanda Nunes, Daniel Cormier, Georges St. Pierre, Conor Mcgregor, B.J. Penn, and Randy Couture. During the UFC 295 event, Pereira landed 38 significant strikes while Prochazka landed 30. Pereira also scored 12 significant leg strikes, affecting Prochazka’s movement in a short time. However, Prochazka racked up more control time, with a total of 2:45 recorded.
Pereira’s record at Madison Square Garden is also impressive, standing at 3-0. Along with his win over Prochazka, he has also bested Israel Adesanya and Andreas Michailidis at the well-known venue. UFC 295 also saw Tom Aspinall secure his first-round knockout of Sergei Pavlovich, joining Michael Bisping and Leon Edwards as the only UFC champions from the United Kingdom. UFC 295’s gate reached $12,423,563, making it the second-largest of any UFC card held at Madison Square Garden. Conor Mcgregor’s showdown against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 still holds the top spot with a $17.7 million gate.
UFC 295 also worked in Jessica Andrade’s favor as she made her 16th UFC victory, tying with the retired Amanda Nunes for the highest among women in the history of the promotion. Andrade halted a three-bout skid by securing a second-round technical knockout against Mackenzie Dern in a notable strawweight bout. She also achieved four knockdowns against Dern, becoming the first woman to achieve this feat in a UFC bout. Despite the disparity in knockdowns, Andrade only held a slight four-strike advantage over Dern, landing 53 significant strikes.