🥊 UFC 303 was Insane

The UFC took their yearly trip to Las Vegas for International Fight Week, but they could NOT have prepared for all that went down during a historic UFC 303.

A fight on 4 hours notice, a P4P fighter discussion and a wild faceoff for a fight down under later this year. LET’S GET INTO IT…

HENRY & KAMARU BREAK DOWN THE CARD

HEADLINES

🥊 Alex Pereira proved that he is one of the scariest men to ever enter the UFC octagon as he made even quicker work of former champion Jiri Prochazka. His coach Plinio Cruz said they saw him checking a leg kick on social media and then incorporated a left high kick due to the weakness. We’re talking A1 level assessment and action here folks. Truly special. All-time special.

🥊 DAN “F*CKIN’” IGE saved the show at UFC 303. Full Stop. Yes, Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka both fought on short notice, but not as short as Dan Ige, who was sitting at home watching the prelims before rushing to the arena for a brawl with Diego Lopes. More on that later.

🥊 Happy Retirement to Michelle Waterson-Gomez who was honored with an in-arena feature of her greatest highlights in the promotion. The former Invicta Atomweight Champion made here UFC debut back in 2015 and fought in a number of headline & PPV opportunities.

🥊 Dricus Du Plessis & Israel Adesanya waited until mid-afternoon July 2nd for a UFC 305 Press Conference where they shared some HEATED exchanges. This one MAY get ugly in the buildup folks.

COMING UP NEXT IN THE 185LBS DIVISION…

UFC 303 Recap

Light Heavyweight: Alex Pereira def. Jiri Prochazka (via Left Head Kick to TKO at 0:13 in RD2)

This fight was absolutely mythical. Being in the building to see the incredible stare down between these two giants was insane. A rematch from their November fight last year that saw Jiri Prochazka being KO’d 4 minutes into Round 2 had a stage set for the ages. Both men coming through on short notice to save a card that once was a McGregor billed July 4th weekend BANGER.

HOWEVER, COULD THEY SAVE SUCH A CARD…

• The first round went similar to that of the first, however, the end of the round saw a retreating Pereira clip Prochazka. A stumbling Jiri was able to get to his corner, but he never truly left it.

• Coming out of Round 2, Pereira had made the read. At just 13 seconds in he threw a left kick only a fly could avoid straight to the ear of Prochazka.

UFC 303 Quick Hitters

• The Co-Main event gets its own segment below so stay tuned for the Ortega vs Lopes vs Ige triple threat match that occurred in Las Vegas.

• Did you see the cut that Macy Chiasson lit up on Mayra Bueno Silva to secure a TKO doctor stoppage victory? That was bad… real bad. Seriously click at your own risk…here.

• Ian Machado Garry and Michael Venom Page led the card off with a high level striking match that saw Machado Garry pull away with a decision win. He improved to 15-0 but in the fans (and in UFC President Dana White’s eyes) may as well be 14-0-1.

• “BE” Joe Pyfer did what Joe Pyfer does with a 1st round TKO just 85 seconds into his brawl with Marc-Andre Barriault. When this guy has his A-Game, he can crack with any 185er on the roster. Period. It was a damn shame seeing how much the fan hate got to him after his loss to “The Joker” so you have to feel good for this guy.

• Cub Swanson unfortunately walked away with a decision loss to Andre Fili in a fight that most people (including myself) thought Cub won. Just 2 of 14 recognized judges on MMADecisions.com and 23% of 120+ fan cards saw the split-decision win for Andre Fili.

• Vinicius Oliveira is a wacky, crazy, guy…but I kinda’ love him? One of those guys you always want to have money on because he’s such a wack job that it’s fun.

• The $50,000 bonuses went to Alex Pereira (who actually got a $303K bonus), Joe Pyfer, Payton Talbott, Cub Swanson, Andre Fili and Macy Chiasson.

UFC 303: Co-Main Event MADNESS

Okay so just imagine yourself sitting there watching the prelims at home in your Las Vegas, Nevada house. Hanging with the family after doing some recovery because you’ve got a fight in 3-weeks. Let me take a nap…

*10 Missed Calls*

So you answer the next call to the opportunity of a lifetime. Come own to T-Mobile Arena and get into a fist fight to save the cursed UFC 303 PPV.

— DEAL —

Enter Dan Ige. The 13th ranked UFC lightweight with an 18-7 record at this time last week who represents the pinnacle of “anytime, anyplace, anyone”.

— REWIND —

How did we get here? Well, three or so weeks ago this card was entirely revamped. McGregor vs Chandler was gone, so was Jamahal Hill and Khalil Rountree and Carlos Ulberg and on and on and on. So, Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes stepped up to fill the Co-Main event slot with the #3 ranked Featherweight Brian “T-City” Ortega taking on Diego Lopes at #14.

BUT WAIT…THERE’S MORE…

Ortega calls the UFC at 4am Friday morning to say he can’t make the weight. Diego Lopes says “okay we’ll do a catchweight”. Ortega and Lopes come to the arena Saturday…or so we think.

Rumblings begin on social media…Eric Nicksick and Dan Ige post cryptically. News of a Brian Ortega sickness begin to spread across MMA twitter.

WHAT…BAHH GAWD IS THAT… THAT’S DAN IGE’S MUSIC

In steps Dan Ige, on 4 hours notice to save the UFC 303 card. The son of a Navy Seal was more prepared than any man on the night and he was sitting on the couch at home. THE GOVERNOR OF NEVADA had to sign off on this to make this bout happen!

He can certainly tell it better than I can, but what an absolute set of nads on this guy to step in on such short notice with no knowledge of the opponent.

Possibly the biggest win in UFC history off an “L” on the Tapology page.

POUND 4 POUND PODCAST

Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo broke down the entire UFC 303 event on our latest podcast episode!

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Watch this gangster-ass quote from Coach Plinio Cruz in the Alex Pereira corner…

THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT — CHAMA