The UFC 320 headliner didn’t go the way Tom Aspinall expected it to go.
Alex Pereira reclaimed the light heavyweight crown with an 80-second technical knockout victory over Magomed Ankalaev in Saturday’s main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “Poatan” rocked his Dagestani rival with an overhand right, then forced the stoppage with a serie of vicious elbows on the canvas. It was a far cry from their first meeting, when Ankalaev earned a tactical, five-round verdict over Pereira at UFC 313 this past March.
Heading into the rematch, Aspinall predicted that Ankalaev would prevail once again, but the UFC’s heavyweight king had no problem admitting his assessment was incorrect.