UFC 303 Fight Card Preview
The Exciting Late Fill-in for Conor McGregor at International Fight Week
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For a sports calendar, there are very few times in the year where there is appointment television, and the sports world has all its eyes focused on this game or match. For the UFC, there is only one man who can create that feeling and level of hype for non-MMA fans to be invested in watching. This, of course, is Conor McGregor. Even after breaking his leg and being out for three years next month, the question of Conor still being a big draw was put to rest easily when Dana White stated that the gate for International Fight Week’s UFC 303 in Las Vegas, Nevada, was $20 million in ticket sales alone. On the secondary market, the cheapest prices for tickets to this fight card were going for $1,300! For the MMA world, this, on top of what looked to be a fantastic lineup of fights in June, had the fanbase really looking forward to this collection of cards this summer.
And then, late on Sunday, June 2nd, it started to breakdown. The UFC’s planned press conference in Dublin, Ireland, with Conor and Michael Chandler was postponed less than 24 hours before it was supposed to occur. What followed was a week and a half of fans teetering on whether to be worried that THE premiere main event could be in jeopardy. Eventually, what most were expecting turned out to be true, as a Conor foot injury caused him and Chandler’s fight to be pushed back (experts say to late August).
Now without their must-watch main event and with what was already a weak card even with Conor and Chandler, the UFC kicked into high gear to find multiple fights to fill the massive gap. What they were able to replace it with is quite impressive for diehard fans. To fill in, Alex Pereira, the man quickly becoming the most universally beloved fighter on the roster, is coming to fill the main event and risk his light heavyweight belt. Against him again is the former light heavyweight champion, Jiri Prochazka, an equally fierce warrior and stoic man looking to regain his title. In addition, they added a reborn Brian Ortega facing the blazing hot Diego Lopes. While the market is showing fans are displeased with this, as tickets are now going for under $500, I can speak for much of the fan base that I am content with what the UFC was at least able to replace Conor and Chandler with. The preview for that fight will be on the backburner for the time being. For now, let's give the UFC credit and give an overview of this revamped card. With that being said, here is your UFC 303 preview.
Prelims
Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
One positive of a McGregor PPV that most people are not aware of is that it is a prime opportunity that the UFC uses to promote their prospects. In McGregor’s last fight at UFC 264 in July 2021, that card featured Dricus Du Plessis, Ilia Topuria, and Sean O’Malley. Fast forward three years later, and all three of them currently hold the undisputed UFC gold. While the Conor match is no longer on the card, the UFC wisely put and kept two prospects on the prelims for the card in order to get a bump in hype.
The first of these two is bantamweight Payton Talbott. When I describe to you an American bantamweight with curly hair, very unique tattoos, a must-watch striking style, and an alum from the Dana White Contender Series, you immediately think of Sean O’Malley. By no means am I the first person to make this comparison, but it makes complete sense. On the feet, he is a fantastic striker that cuts down his opponents like a machete in dense jungle. At 8-0, all but one of his fights ended in finishes. Since Talbott came to the UFC, he has shown growth in each of his two fights, with a submission of Nick Aguirre and KOing Cameron Saaiman in an underrated prospect vs. prospect matchup. Facing Yanis Ghemmouri on Saturday, a Frenchman whose strength is taking the fight to the ground to find a sub, it should be a good test for the 25-year-old Talbott as the division is flooded with talented grapplers. I expect him to pass with flying colors and win by 2nd round KO.
The second fighter to watch is middleweight Joe Pyfer. Like Talbott, Pyfer is a winner from the DWCS and has also been heavily pushed by the UFC, with a strong approval rating from Dana. While he is coming off a main event loss to Jack Hermansson, that fight just showed that Pyfer does not currently possess a five-round gas tank, as he lost all three final rounds. Still, Pyfer does have an incredible fighting style to become a marketable prospect. He has one decision win in 15 fights, including three stoppage wins in the UFC against respectable talent. Add that he is a guy who is very open to speaking his mind, and you have yourself a very marketable fight. Facing Marc-Andre Barriault this Saturday, a knockout striker similar to Pyfer that has only been KO’ed once, Pyfer will have to fight strategically or risk getting into a slugging match with an experienced KO artist. I think Pyfer will be smart, get the fight to the ground, and win by submission.
Main Card
Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Similar to how Talbott and Pyfer were on this card to get a bump up in popularity, it is similar to the PPV opener for UFC 303 2.0 with Irishman Ian “The Future” Garry facing England’s Michael “Venom” Page. For Ian Garry, this battle of the British Isles was not the UFC’s initial plan. After starting 6-0 in the UFC, the 10th-ranked Garry began the 2024 year with a win over the 8th-ranked Geoff Neal in February. In the post-fight interview, Garry made it very clear that he wanted a match against No. 4 Colby Covington and to be the co-main for fellow Irishman Conor McGregor’s return. While the two were jawing back and forth on social media for the following month, the fight ultimately wouldn’t be made, with Covington likely playing a game of ducking his opponent.
Still wanting to fight on the then-Conor card, Garry unselfishly agreed to fight below him in the rankings and face No. 14 Michael Page. With a fight that features two lengthy strikers, you could see this fight as a diet version of the match between Israel Adesanya and Anderson Silva in 2019. The key component of this fight will be MVP’s defensive movement, which makes it difficult for his opponent to land punches. This was evident in his UFC debut earlier this year against Kevin Holland, although it seemed Holland quietly quit in the middle of that fight. The difference between Holland and Garry is that I cannot see Ian Garry missing punches for 15 straight minutes. It is why I am picking Garry to win over MVP by split decision.
The co-main event, similar to Alex Pereria and Jiri Prochazka, was a last-minute addition. But like Jiri and Pereira, it is definitely an exciting one. Featherweights Brian “T-City” Ortega and Diego Lopes face off in a matchup between No. 3 and No. 14. The featherweights are each riding different roller coaster highs. Through out 2023, a question many fans had regarding the rankings was, "Why is Brian Ortega still a top 5 featherweight?" Coming into the UFC, Ortega was very active and rode a six-fight win streak to his first UFC title shot. And then he was completely dominated by champion Max Holloway. From that point in December 2018, Ortega fought three times in the next four years. After being out all of 2023 due to recovering from his shoulder surgery, Brian Ortega had his rematch against Yair Rodriguez in Yair’s home country of Mexico. After rolling his angle and getting 10-8’ed in the first round, Ortega flipped the script in the second round and followed up by submitting Yair in the third round. The win was impressive enough that before Max Holloway’s highlight knockout of Justin Gaethje, some were thinking he would be newly crowned champion Ilia Topuria’s first opponent to fight for the title.
Instead, Ortega is facing the red-hot prospect Diego Lopes. With three straight first-stoppage wins, each in less than two minutes, Lopes has now reached the rankings. For Ortega, if he was struggling already against a striker like Yair, he could be in even deeper trouble against Lopes. While there is not much of a difference in jiu-jitsu, the difference in power is massive, and it is a place where Lopes can do some bad damage. In the end, the only way I see Brian Ortega winning, as much of a fan I am of him, is by submission. With Diego Lopes having never lost by sub, I think this is made for Diego Lopes to continue his rocket ship climb up the featherweight rankings with a unanimous decision.
CAlex Pereira vs. 1Jiri Prochazka
Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
As previously mentioned, UFC 303 has lost its main event featuring Conor McGregor, the biggest star of the UFC. But in place of the UFC’s biggest star is their most valuable star, Alex Pereira. From August 2020, when Jon Jones vacated the light heavyweight title, to July 2023, the UFC light heavyweight division went through a dark age. It consisted of three separate instances of champions vacating the title, twice due to injury. It had no star power in the post-Jon Jones era and was considered by many to be the worst men’s division in the company. And then Alex “Poatan” Pereira happened. In the two and a half years he has been with the UFC, it has been nothing but jaw-dropping greatness. In the light heavyweight division, specifically, it has become exciting and reinvigorating. Lastly, and most importantly, Alex Pereira has brought activity.
Once again, for the third straight time, Alex Pereira has come in at the last minute to help a PPV by being its main event. It began last November at UFC 295 with an MSG event that lost its headliner, Jon Jones, due to injury. There, Alex Pereira would transition from the co-main event to the main event, as he would win the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight title. It continued at UFC 300, when the UFC desperately needed a big name for the main event of its centennial card. Now, Pereira defends his belt for the second time at UFC 303. One other fighter that fought on all three of those cards as well was the former light heavyweight champion who never lost his belt, Jiri Prochazka. The two of them met at 295, where they had a stare down for the ages ahead of their match for the vacant title. In the fight, it concluded with a second-round KO of Jiri, as Pereira’s leg kicks were too much for the Czech to handle. After losing to Poatan, Jiri would remain active, being the headliner for the UFC 300 prelims. Against Alexander Rakic, the Jiri that was cautious to move into the line of fire against Poatan threw caution to the wind instead. Caring less about his striking defense and more focused on marching Rakic down, Jiri would find success and knock out his central European brethren. Later that night, Pereira would cleanly defeat the second former 205 champ who vacated the belt in Jamahal Hill. When the event concluded, many wanted at least one more defense of the belt by Pereria before he makes an attempt at history and try to become the first ever three-division champ with a fight at heavyweight. While Makomed Ankalaev was the most deserving contender, he put himself in a horrible position by telling Pereira to defend his title in October at Abu Dahbi, the equivalent of a Muslim fighter’s backyard. The misstep by Ankalaev left an opening for Jiri, and he took advantage of it, which bring us to where we are today.
But before a preview of this fight is complete, it should be noted that once it was clear that Conor McGregor would not fight at UFC 303, it took less than a couple of days to get these two to agree to this rematch. Taking a title fight on two weeks’ notice is a testament to how badass these two men are. With both coming off having fought in April, each is still nursing injuries. While Jiri went to war with Rakic, Pereira broke his toe two weeks before his title fight with Hill. Even though it is probable that Alex has recovered from it, his toes not being recovered could compromise his devastating whipping leg kicks—the same leg kicks that Jiri struggled mightily with. In addition, there are several unknowns for both fighters coming into this fight. Recovery and conditioning for five rounds are two things we will have no clue about for either fighter coming into this fight. However, there is one thing we can be certain of: It will live up to and exceed the hype. In their combined 12 fights in the UFC, you could argue that maybe only one of them was boring (UFC 291: Alex Pereira vs. Yan Błachowicz). In this rematch, my prediction will be that Yiri will have success early in the fight, with a style similar to his match against Rakic. But, as the fight gets later, it is very difficult to fight a perfect 25 minutes against Alex Pereira, knowing he has some of the scariest power in the entire sport. I think that Pereira starts to ware away Jiri’s game plan and starts to tag Jiri, as he did in their first fight. For that reason, I am picking Alex Pereira to win by fourth-round KO.
Pick Summary
Payton Talbott vs. Yanis Ghemmouri: Payton Talbott KO
Joe Pyfer vs. Marc-Andre Barriault: Joe Pyfer SUB
Ian Machado Garry vs. Michael Page: Ian Machado Garry Split DEC
Brian Ortega vs. Diego Lopes: Diego Lopes DEC
Alex Pereira vs. Jiri Prochazka: Alex Pereira KO