Khalil Rountree Jr.'s plan appeared to be working for a while at UFC 307, until Alex Pereira did what he usually does. The result: a fourth-round KO and further evidence that Pereira is a terrifying individual, not to mention still the UFC light heavyweight champ. It was over when a Pereira combination left Rountree bent over, but the blood was flying long before that. The Delta Center crowd watched him break a man down. The damage was bad enough that Rountree had to pause his postfight interview because his nose started bleeding again. Pereira approached the first round like usual, standing tall in front of his opponent and trying to overwhelm them with power, plus sheer intimidation. In Rountree, though, he found a similarly lethal striker, as well a southpaw stance that made his timing trickier than usual. The challenger landed some clean shots on the champion in the early going. Pereira was finding home too, but it was a different sight than Pereira's past title fights that ended with him standing victorious over a dazed opponent in the first couple rounds. It got real toward the end of the second round, when a Rountree hard right briefly dropped Pereira. Rountree kept coming, maintaining a frenetic pace that had him gasping for air at the fence between rounds.Rountree won the first two rounds on the judges' cards, but Pereira remained his stoic self. He began to exert control in the third, when he really started to do some damage to Rountree's face. As Rountree's pace faded in the championship rounds, Pereira just kept coming, exerting his usual pressure on an opponent that was probably banking on a more damaging surprise in the first few rounds. As the swelling built on Rountree's face, Pereira just kept hitting him harder.Pereira was a predator and Rountree was bleeding. It ended the usual way at UFC 307. The win provides another argument for Pereira as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC. As for what happens next, Pereira said he was open for a jump to heavyweight, but insisted he was happy remaining at light heavyweight. Wherever he ends up, it will probably be bad news for the fighters there. Before the main event, Julianna Peña re-captured the UFC bantamweight crown in the co-main with a split decision win over Raquel Pennington. It was a controversial decision. After a close first round, Peña landed takedowns in the second and third rounds to take the lead, then Pennington started landing some major shots in the championship rounds. Many had Pennington retaining her belt, but two of the three judges thought differently.
Julianna Peña reclaims her bantamweight gold in the co-main
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