UFC 303‘s main event saw the reigning light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira retain his title in devastating fashion. After a dominant first round which saw Poatan score a knockdown in the dying seconds, the Brazilian made a statement in the second. Just five seconds into the second round, Pereira landed a vicious switch head kick, knocking down Jiri Prochazka, before ground and pound ended things.
What was so interesting about the finish is that the strike thrown is not something that we’ve seen Pereira throw a lot in his UFC career thus far. That said, there’s a clear reason why he chose that strike in particular. Speaking to FullSendMMA after the fight, Alex Pereira’s coach and translator, Plinio Cruz revealed that they saw an Instagram post that revealed a flaw in the technique of Prochazka.
Alex Pereira saw Jiri Prochazka warming up on Instagram before the fight and noticed his hands dropping when he checked the kick. This was what helped him throw the head kick that knocked Jiri out 🤯 #ufc303 #ufc pic.twitter.com/qnHlwLHW7l
— FULL SEND MMA (@full_send_mma) June 30, 2024
Below is the video that appears to show Prochazka drop his hands when checking a leg kick. Pereira utilised this knowledge to great advantage in the fight, scoring a headkick knockout as his opponent dropped his hands, very similar to what he did backstage when warming up.
Alex Pereira saw this video on social media in his changing room and noticed Jiri drops his hands after every calf kick check and decided to add the head kick to the game plan
CRAZY 🔥 https://t.co/Rg8Md8Xd49 pic.twitter.com/oUrRIEzwGU
— OOC MMA (@oocmma) June 30, 2024
This does lead to big questions with regard to what should be filmed prior to the fights. Would Pereira have landed the head kick without prior knowledge of a skill flaw in Prochazka? We will never know, but Prochazka has a right to be frustrated.
We broke down the fight itself and the entire UFC 303 card on this week’s MMASucka podcast:
