The UFC’s middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis says that he had Khalil Rountree winning the first two rounds before Alex Pereira delivered a vicious knock-out in the fourth round to retain his light heavyweight title at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City on Saturday.
Pereira had to dig deep against Rountree, who started aggressively and posed problems with his quick counter-punching ability.
However, Pereira ultimately secured the victory in the fourth round with a devastating knock out, extending his title defence streak to three in the light heavyweight division. This puts him in equal footing with Islam Makhachev among current champions.
Following the win Du Plessis who has a long-running feud with Pereira said he had Rountree winning the first two rounds, adding that both fighters looked great during the fight.
💊![CDATA[]]>😳 Alex Pereira coughing between the rounds on his stool. Turns out Alex was on antibiotics in this camp and only really trained for 3 weeks.
Only makes this win more impressive 👏
pic.twitter.com/3nB2yCT3Fx
“I thought both men looked incredible tonight had the first two rounds for Rountree but those low kicks added up.Well done both of you are warriors!,” Du Plessis posted on X.
Both Du Plessis and Pereira have been trading blows on social media over the past month, with Pereira indicating that he wants to go back 185 to challenge Du Plessis for the middleweight championship, even going as far calling him a scared clown.
Du Plessis not one to back out away from a fight also called out Pereira but insisted that any fight between them should be a light heavyweight.
However, after his fight against Rountree, Pereira sang a different tune stating that he did not want to get in the way of his training partner and number supposed number contender Sean Strickland.
"We saw that Dricus [du Plessis] is going to fight Sean Strickland, he is a training partner of mine so I don't want to get in the way," he said.
"I can move up to heavyweight but this division is great, I feel great at this weight cut and this is where I am at," Pereira said as per TalkSport.
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