Saturday’s scheduled main event may have been derailed by the smallest pig, but that doesn’t mean UFC 303 doesn’t still have plenty to offer fight fans.
After Conor McGregor’s broken little finger caused the former two-time champion’s fight against Michael Chandler to be canceled, the UFC went into save-event mode. And while the new headliner on Saturday’s card may not be of the caliber of the sport’s biggest star making his return after nearly three years outside the Octagon, there will be at least one championship belt on the line.
(Related: How to watch UFC 303 without ESPN+ or cable)
UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira (10-2, 8 KOs) has agreed to fight former champion Jiří Procházka (30-4, 26 KOs) on Saturday (10 p.m. ET, ESPN+ PPV ) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. And like that, the show will continue. The two previously met in the cage at UFC 295 in November, with Pereira winning the vacant light heavyweight title via a second-round TKO.
In an unprecedented move, the co-main event will feature a true last-minute fight at 165 pounds between rising prospect Diego Lopes and late replacement Dan Ige. Lopes was originally supposed to fight Brian Ortega, but Ortega dropped out on Saturday due to illness and was replaced by Ige just hours before the PPV broadcast began.
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RESULT: Roman Dolidze def. Anthony Smith by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Let’s move on to the dashboards…
Smith and Dolidze go the distance and now we hear how the judges scored the fight. Smith faded in the second half of the fight, but Dolidze didn’t really land anything of major significance.
It was not a good fight between Smith and Dolidze. I understood it was a short-term match, so we had to manage expectations, but it just wasn’t fun.
The Georgian threw a big left that sent Smith reeling, and he stumbled to the canvas. Dolidze then gained the upper hand, but he couldn’t finish from behind or from above. We move on to the third round.
Round 1 in the books
“That’s how spoiled the crowd is, they boo it.” – Joe Rogan, watching a bad fight
Who are they: A pair of 35-year-old fighters trying to squeeze what they can out of their remaining years in the cage. Smith breathed some life into his career with a surprising submission win in May. Dolidze has lost two straight and is fighting here at light heavyweight after several years at middleweight.
Why is this important: Technically, these two guys are replacements. Dolidze is actually a replacement for a replacement, but it doesn’t matter. It’s an entirely new fight at this point, and one that acts as a band-aid for a particularly beleaguered spot in this lineup. Think of this fight as the bridge between the main card warm-up and the big fights.
Rogan wanted the fight to continue
“It’s just blood” should be added to Rogan’s list of bad comments #UFC303
RESULT: Macy Chiasson def. Mayra Bueno Silva – TKO (Doctor’s Stop) at 1:58 of R2
It must be a bad feeling when they check for a cut on your face and you can hear the crowd go ooooohhh when a close-up of your face is shown on the big screen.
A doctor was called into the cage to examine Bueno Silva’s cut. The gash was shown on the big screen and the crowd audibly gasped in unison. This is bad.
Bueno Silva Front LEAKED
Chiasson scores a vicious sharp elbow from top position to start the second round and MBS flees.
That said, MBS has positioned itself for an armbar. This is about to get dicey.
Bueno Silva and Chiasson exchanged some big blows in R1
I love that Macy Chiasson is talking about doing everything she can to not waste a once in a lifetime opportunity and meanwhile Mayra Bueno Silva is like “whatever, this division sucks.”
Michael Page landed seven significant strikes in total in the first and third rounds. In theory, he could have benefited from increasing his volume, but at the same time, it would have left him even more vulnerable to takedowns. #UFC303pic.twitter.com/HNfQp4FFEA
Who are they: Bueno Silva seemed like a strong candidate to win the vacant women’s 135-pound title, but she fell short against Raquel Pennington in January. Chiasson won one season of “The Ultimate Fighter” at featherweight, but lately she has won one and lost another with disturbing regularity.
Why is this important: Bueno Silva is ranked third at bantamweight and probably wouldn’t need many wins to return to the title. Chiasson is a great fighter for this weight class, but she still seems pretty raw at times and hasn’t beaten anyone of note in the UFC. It would be a big step forward for Chiasson if she manages to win, while Bueno Silva is simply trying not to fall down the rankings.
RESULT: Ian Machado Garry def. Michael Page by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
End of third round
Page and Garry go all the way. The scorecards arrive after a fierce battle.
