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Debate

Did Jiri Prochazka's team fail him, or was Alex Pereira just too good this time?

The MMA world is still not over Alex Pereira making quick work of Jiri Prochazka at UFC 303. The Brazilian took on Prochazka for a second time after defeating him at UFC 295 for the vacant LHW title. The end game of the fight was a brutal head kick that sent ‘Denisa’ to the ground. The 31-year-old’s loss and the brutal KO were recently replayed by color commentator Joe Rogan and  ‘Rampage’ Jackson who saw something unique in this fight.

This time around, it seemed like the fight went on longer than anticipated according to Rogan. According to the 56-year-old, the brutal punches kept coming and referee Herb Dean let it happen.

Joe Rogan talks about Herb Dean’s refereeing at UFC 303

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During a recent conversation with Joe Rogan on JRE MMA Show 159, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson was fascinated with the latest LHW title bout and how strong Pereira’s punches were. Rogan also pointed out that the referee let the fight go on for longer than needed and he cited a specific reason for the same. He said while watching the footage, “There’s the head kick. They should have stopped that fight the moment when he went down, they shouldn’t have let him eat all those extra shots. He was done, I think Herb wanted to give him a chance because the first fight got stopped a little premature.”

They started the conversation with how the fight was on short notice and Pereria was in Australia at that time. The 6’4” 205-pound champion then accepted the bout and delivered an incredible performance. The fight was intense and ended with a KO. What was interesting was how Herb Dean did not stop the fight after Pereira’s left hook dropped Porchazka at the end of Round 1. The former champion could not recover between the rounds and Pereira delivered a left high kick to finish the bout just seconds into the second round.

Pereira was throwing follow-up punches and Prochazka was decisively beaten before Dean stopped the bout.  Even though it seemed like the veteran and famous referee was contemplating stepping in multiple times, he was also restraining himself to allow Prochazka a chance to get back up and fight. However, this might have been appreciated by Rogan but not by Ariel Helwani who was upset about the stoppage. On the other hand, Marc Goddard who was the referee for the previous bout between the duo received backlash for an apparent early stoppage of the fight.

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Apart from this discussion of the referee’s choices in the present bout, Jackson was also conjuring up a scenario about what a fight between him and ‘Poatan’ would look like!

How would ‘Rampage’ fight ‘Poatan?’

What’s your perspective on:

Did Jiri Prochazka's team fail him, or was Alex Pereira just too good this time?

Have an interesting take?

While speaking about UFC 303 the former PRIDE and UFC star responded that he had seen the match and Pereira’s incredible KO. ‘Rampage,’ conjured up a scenario and asked Rogan, “You know what I was thinking, like how would I have done if I was in my prime fighting somebody like that? You could be honest.”

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The color commentator shared his thoughts and said that Jackson has good wrestling skills and is extremely strong. The former light heavyweight had 38 total wins in his career and is a good wrestler. According to Rogan, ‘Poatan’ has yet to face an elite wrestler as an opponent. Then Jackson reminisced about UFC 71 in 2007 when he beat Chuck Liddel and he said, “I probably wouldn’t have tried to take Alex down. I probably would have tried (to stand up) until he start f**king me up, then like ‘oh sh*t, it’s time to take him down.’”

This proves that Pereira’s striking power is unmatched and the only way to take him down might be a wrestling heavy approach. So now the only one who might beat him is Magomed Ankalaev who has a strong wrestling background and is ranked #2 in the division! On top of that he even gave a warning to Pereira, so do you think these two stars might fight it out in the future?