UFC 291 Results: Alex Pereira wins light heavyweight debut over Jan Blachowicz

Alex Pereira was victorious in his light heavyweight debut at UFC 291 on Saturday at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. It took him all three rounds and it couldn’t have been much closer, but he defeated Jan Blachowicz, jumping immediately into the deep end of the division.

Both men came into UFC 291 looking to make a splash and get the nod to fight Jiri Prochazka for the UFC light heavyweight championship vacated by Jamahal Hill.

A former UFC light heavyweight champion, Blachowicz needed a win over Pereira, who is the former UFC middleweight champion. He moved up after consistently feeling the pressure of making the 185-pound limit.

But after a motivated performance by both, it was Pereira who took the nod.

Blachowicz immediately shot on Pereira, driving him with his back to the cage. As Blachowicz tried to find a leg, Pereira nearly secured a guillotine choke.

Blachowicz was patient, and eventually drug Pereira to the canvas, where he took the back, working for a rear-naked choke. He remained glued to Pereira’s back, body triangle locked on, wearing on the Brazilian, continually threatening with the rear-naked choke.

The Polish fighter had a tremendous first round, tiring Pereira and dominating position, constantly attacking.

Pereira used his jab effectively to start round two, keeping Blachowicz at bay so that he could recover from the first frame. As he seemed to be finding his mark with low leg kicks, Blachowicz stung him with a couple punches and then shot the takedown, planting him on his back.

Patiently working his way back to his feet, Pereira eventually escaped, and landed a head kick before an exchange of punches showed that Blachowicz was now running on fumes. Pereira kept attacking, patiently picking Blachowicz apart with body blows, and landing hard hooks to the head as the round closed.

Going into the final frame, the bout looked to be one round apiece.

They opened round three trading kicks and punches, but it was Pereira who looked sharper and was landing with more effect as the round progressed. Blachowicz dug deep and fired back, but still appeared extremely tired.

Pereira was patient, picking his strikes carefully, but landing more than Blachowicz, who desperately tried to shoot about midway through the round, but was easily fended off.

With a minute and a half left in the fight, Pereira snapped Blachowicz’s head with a stinging punch. Blachowicz kept coming forward, but was getting picked apart, as Pereira outpunched him, kicked him, and kneed him.

The clock was winding down, ticking away at 30 seconds to go, as Blachowicz took Pereira to the canvas, though he was unable to do anything with the position, ending the fight in Pereira’s guard.

When the scorecards were read, Pereira took the nod from two out three judges in a hard-fought bout with scores reading 29-28 and 29-28 in his favor, while the third judge scored it 29-28 in Blachowicz’s favor. 

After the fight, Pereira made clear he intended to make a run at the UFC light heavyweight title, but seemed to indicate he wasn’t yet done with UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, whom he has split UFC fights.