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Alex Pereira (12-2) put his light heavyweight title on the line against Khalil Rountree (13-6) in the main event at UFC 307 at Salt Lake City, Utah, on Oct. 5. While Rountree took Rounds 1 and 2 on the official scorecards, Pereira put on a striking clinic as the fight progressed to earn a fourth-round technical knockout victory.
Pereira subsequently revealed that aside from a tough test against Rountree, he also had a grueling camp. “Poatan” dealt with visa issues, a fever that needed antibiotics and lingering injuries leading up to UFC 307. After his third successful title defense within the shortest span in Ultimate Fighting Championship history, he also plans to take some time off.
Daniel Cormier revealed that Pereira’s camp was troublesome enough to jeopardize the UFC 307 headliner. After the fight, Pereira’s manager and coach told “DC” that they had informed the UFC that they might have to pull out even after arriving in Salt Lake City. While it would be a major setback for the UFC, the promotion did not put any pressure on Pereira, who is arguably its biggest star in 2024. Had Pereira pulled out, the UFC reportedly planned to bump up the co-headliner women’s bantamweight title fight between Raquel Pennington and Julianna Pena to the main event.
“They told the UFC, ‘We’re going to go to Salt Lake [City], we’re going to try to train, but we may pull out,” Cormier said on the Good Guy/Bad Guy podcast. “The UFC said to him, ‘That would suck, but let us know how it goes. Because we’ve two title fights, we’ll elevate one of them if that’s what we need to do.”
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