Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree -- Round 4: Rountree opened with a leg kick, ate one in return and landed another. Pereira landed a kick to the body. Pereira's calk kicks continued landing hard and that opened a hard left hand from Pereira. Rountree's eye began to swell in addition to the damage to his lead leg. Pereira continued to fire jabs at the injured eye and then a right hand hurt Rountree. Pereira continued to land the right hand and then a knee as he tried to get the finish but Rountree continued to fire back. Rountree's eyelid looked to have been cut in the exchanges. Pereira had Rountree hurt and continued to chase him down with heavy shots. More big rights from Pereira but Rountree, all heart, landed his own right hand. Pereira grabbed a clinch and landed a knee. Pereira trapped him along the cage, ripped two huge body shots and then another right hand and Rountree finally collapsed to the canvas and the fight was waived off. Official result: Alex Pereira def. Khalil Rountree via KO, Round 4
UFC 307 results, highlights: Alex Pereira overcomes slow start to batter Khalil Rountree Jr., retain title
'Poatan' dished out a brutal beating on his opponent, leaving him a bloody mess
Khalil Rountree was overlooked by most entering his UFC 307 main event with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. For two rounds, it seemed Rountree may be on the verge of shocking the world. Then, the champion's power took over, leaving Rountree a bloody mess before scoring a fourth-round knockout.
Rountree came out ready to fire heavy shots from the jump and his combination of speed and power had Pereira stuck throwing single strikes at a time. That made for a tense opening two rounds, with the standout moments belonging to Rountree as he caught Pereira in the second round with a big right hand after the champion missed a kick, the shot dropping Pereira to the canvas briefly. Rountree also closed that round strong with a big head kick.
In the third round, everything changed as the accumulation of Pereira's leg kicks and heavy jab caught up to Rountree. Rountree slowed and became an easy target for Pereira. As Pereira's shots continued to land, Rountree's right eye first began to swell, then multiple cuts opened.
The finish came in the fourth round as Rountree showed incredible heart, absorbing a constant stream of big shots from Pereira before a right hand, two body shots and an uppercut sent him collapsing to the canvas.
"I can say that this was one of the toughest fights [of my career]," Pereira said after the fight. "I expected that, he has experience and trained in some of the best spots in Thailand. ... The gameplan was to let him tire, I watched a lot of his fights and saw that his stamina started decreasing in the second round. As you know, my stamina only goes up."
Rountree received a standing ovation after the fight and reaffirmed that he considered himself blessed to have had the opportunity to face Pereira before breaking down why he lost.
"I don't think I was surprised at all," Rountree said. "I did think that I was going to be able to hit him a lot more but he did a really good job at evading the punches and counterstriking."
Julianna Pena, meanwhile, had to survive a late blitz from Raquel Pennington to earn a split decision and regain the women's bantamweight title in the co-main event. After some back and forth action early, including a rear naked choke attempt by Pena that appeared pretty deep, Pennington pushed forward and scored the first knockdown of her career in the fifth round. Pena managed to survive and scramble to her feet, but it was part of why the judges scorecards were so close in the split decision win.
Elsewhere on the card, Mario Bautista eked out a split decision win over former featherweight champion Jose Aldo at 135 pounds. Roman Dolidze, meanwhile, picked up a win by TKO after Kevin Holland suffered an apparent rib injury in the first round while trying to transition off his back. And Kayla Harrison seemingly earned herself a future shot at Pena with a tough decision win over Ketlen Vieira to open the PPV action.
CBS Sports was with you the entire way on Saturday bringing you all the results and highlights from the UFC 307 below.
UFC 307 card, results
- Alex Pereira (c) def. Khalil Rountree Jr. via fourth-round knockout (punches)
- Julianna Pena def. Raquel Pennington (c) via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
- Mario Bautista def. Jose Aldo via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Roman Dolidze def. Kevin Holland via first-round TKO (injury)
- Kayla Harrison def. Ketlen Vieira via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Joaquin Buckley def. Stephen Thompson via third-round knockout (punches)
- Iasmin Lucindo def. Marina Rodriguez via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Alexander Hernandez def. Austin Hubbard via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
- Cesar Almeida def. Ihor Potieira via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Ryan Spann def. Ovince Saint Preux via first-round submission (guillotine choke)
- Tecia Pennington def. Carla Esparza via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Court McGee def. Tim Means via first-round submission (rear-naked choke)
Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree -- Round 3: Rountree landed a good shot and backed Pereira up. A body kick followed for Rountree and Pereira didn't look like he enjoyed taking that strike. Rountree dug in with a good hook to the body. Pereira came up top with a head kick and then a left hand behind it. Pereira connected with a hard right hand and then two jabs and Rountree came right back with two left hands. Pereira went back to the calf kick a few times and Rountree's leg started to show the effects. Rountree also landed a good leg kick but began to look a bit fatigued. Pereira blocked a Rountree head kick. Pereira landed a body kick and a few hard punches and Rountree looked as though he was badly fading. Pereira landed a few heavy knees as the round came to a close. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Pereira (30-27)
Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree -- Round 2: Pereira back to the calf kicks early in the round as Rountree tried to find space to explode in. Rountree did land a good right hand after catching a Pereira body kick. Pereira landed a short right hand and then a left hook that seemed to wobble Rountree a little. The Pereira leg kicks also continued to land. Rountree was increasingly on the back foot though he still did land the occasional looping shot. Pereira stuck a good jab but then missed a kick and Rountree landed a heavy punch as Pereira's back was turned. That hurt Pereira though he appeared to recover fairly quickly. Rountree exploded forward with a three-punch combination, the last of which did connect. Pereira landed a good right hand and Rountree landed a heavy head kick. Rountree had some big moments even if Pereira may have had the overall better round. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Pereira (20-18)
Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree -- Round 1: Pereira threw a front kick aqt the face immediately and Rountree caught it for a near takedown. Rountree threw and landed some heavy punches in the opening moments. Pereira popped out a jab and then a heavy leg kick. Rountree scored with a left hand. Pereira connected with a hard right hand. Pereira went back to the leg kick. Pereira threw another head kick that just barely was blocked. Rountree tried to explode with a combination that just missed doing serious damage. Rountree caught another Pereira kick and then landed a right hand seconds later. Pereira landed more heavy calf kicks but Rountree ate them and came back with a right hand. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Pereira
Pereira and Rountree are in the Octagon and the main event is minutes away from getting going.
We are now moving along to the night's main event. Alex Pereira will defend the light heavyweight championship against No. 8 ranked Khalil Rountree Jr.
Official result: Julianna Pena def. Raquel Pennington via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) to win the UFC women's bantamweight title.
Certainly a bit of controversy with Pena winning and she is now a two-time champion.
Raquel Pennington vs. Julianna Pena -- Round 5: Sharp boxing from Pennington dominated the early rounds. Pena managed to land a big right hand midway through the round before the two briefly clinched up. Pennington landed hard and hyurt Pena. Pena fired back but was clearly hurt as Pennington kept pressing forward throwing power shots behind the jab. Despite firing back at times, Pena looked exhausted down the stretch. Pena fired a few late jabs before eating a hard counter left.
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