UFC 307 is in the books. The promotion saw two title fights go down from Salt Lake City on Saturday night with vastly different action. Alex Pereira retained his light heavyweight title with a brutal beating of Khalil Rountree Jr. that left his opponent a bloody and broken mess in the aftermath. Meanwhile, Julianna Pena regained the women’s bantamweight title with a split decision win over Raquel Pennington.
Pereira started a bit slow out of the gate as Rountree forced the champ to respect his power early. But “Poatan” was just waiting for his opportunity to strike as he said after the fight, allowing Rountree to gas himself out early and leaving himself open to power shots late. And that’s exactly what happened as Pereira really opened things up in Round 3 and by Round 4, Rountree was almost unrecognizable as his eye was badly cut and nearly swollen shut. It’s Pereira fifth straight win and fourth by knockout.
Pena, meanwhile, had to survive a late blitz from Pennington. 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 fith 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.
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UFC 307 fight card, odds
- 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)
