Making good on his light heavyweight divisional bow, former undisputed middleweight champion, Alex Pereira has landed at his new weight class with a victory — narrowly edging out fellow former gold holder, Jan Blachowicz in a close, split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) win in the co-main event of UFC 291.
Pereira, a former undisputed middleweight champion, managed to survive an early scare against Polish veteran, Blachowicz in the opening frame, seeing his back taken during a takedown scramble.
Forced to hand-fight with the former light heavyweight champion, Pereira managed to prevent a hellfire of rear-naked choke attempts, to see a second frame.