Alex Pereira retained his light heavyweight championship in emphatic fashion, knocking out JiYí Procházka with a spectacular head kick in the second round of their rematch Saturday night at UFC 303 in Las Vegas.
Pereira violently dropped Prochazka to the canvas with a left head kick, then pounced on his fallen opponent with follow-up strikes before the stoppage came at 13 seconds of Round 2.
Pereira (11-2) won his fourth straight fight, including a second-round TKO of Prochazka in November that earned the Brazilian the vacant 205-pound title. Pereira is No. 3 in the ESPN pound-for-pound rankings.
Prochazka (30-5-1), who is ranked second behind Pereira in the ESPN light heavyweighht rankings, came in with 14 wins in his past 15 fights, with the first Pereira fight his only defeat since 2015.
