UFC 303 Technical Breakdown: How Alex Pereira made the rematch a walk in the park
Pereira made some small adjustments in strategy that made all the difference.
He’s done it again
Twice now Alex Pereira has come through to give the UFC a main event for its biggest pay-per-views of the year. In two and a half months, two of light heavyweight’s top-ranked fighters have attempted to take down the Brazilian kickboxer and both ended up being just another clip to add to Pereira’s sensational highlight reel.
What’s most impressive is that despite having less than two weeks to game plan for his rematch with former champion Jiří Procházka, Pereira was able to develop a strategy that turned what looked like a relatively competitive, albeit favorable, matchup into a walk in the park.
Given that the fight was so short, we’re going to break down Pereira’s impressive victory minute by minute, seeing how he stopped Procházka from getting anything going before finishing him instantly at the start of the second round.
Minute 1 - Commanding the Center
Pereira was determined to maintain control of the center of the cage this fight, refusing to let Procházka pressure him to the fence.
The biggest strategic adjustment for Pereira was in his cagecraft. Pereira is an archetypical boxer-puncher, which means that he doesn’t have to be the one moving forward and he doesn’t habitually take the backfoot to counter either. He’s flexible in his approach.
That flexibility can hurt him at times though. It can lead to a listlessness, either taking whatever the opponent gives him or pressuring only sporadically.
In their previous fight, Procházka was able to find his best success when he got Pereira moving back linearly. This is where Pereira’s defense is most porous and where the violent chaos of the Czech gets dangerous.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The MMA Draw Newsletter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.