Magomed Ankalaev takes down Alex Pereira at UFC 313

LAS VEGAS -- Magomed Ankalaev claimed the UFC light heavyweight title with a convincing unanimous decision victory over Alex Pereira at UFC 313 on Saturday night, defeating the defending champion 49-46, 48-47, 48-47.

Anklaev (20-1-1) took the highly partisan crowd out of the fight early with a dominant grappling effort, mitigating a significant number of leg kicks from Pereira (12-2). Ankalaev's win brings him full circle from his first title shot at UFC 282 in December 2022, a controversial split draw against Jan Blachowicz that saw Ankalaev fall short of claiming the interim belt.

Pereira's loss ends a highly publicized streak of three title defenses within the last year, a stretch that saw Pereira become arguably the biggest star in the sport. A win would have made Pereira the second-fastest fighter to four title defenses in UFC history.

No. 3 lightweight Justin Gaethje (27-5) defeated No. 11 Rafeal Fiziev (12-3) by unanimous decision in the co-main event, a rematch of their bout at UFC 286 that was a fight of the year contender in 2023. Fiziev closed as a -160 favorite despite a 17-month hiatus, thus improving Gaethje's record to 7-3 as an underdog in the UFC. Gaethje gained the upper hand with a vicious uppercut that knocked Fiziev down in the second round and he secured the fight with a convincing finish to the third and final round.

Mauricio Ruffy (12-1) opened the main card with a thrilling knockout of King Green (32-17-1) at 2:07 of the first round. Ruffy landed a perfectly executed wheel kick to Green's head, rendering the Fontana, Calif., native completely unconscious. With the victory, Ruffy extended the undefeated streak of the popular "Fighting Nerds" faction from Brazil -- Ruffy, Caio Borralho and Carlos Prates -- riding a combined 32-fight winning streak, per UFC.com.

The main card's second fight did a great job of draining all the energy that Ruffy had injected into the arena minutes prior. No. 5 women's flyweight Amanda Lemos (15-4-1) defeated No. 7 Iasmin Lucindo (17-6) by unanimous decision in a wrestling-heavy bout that drew disinterested boos from the crowd throughout.

Ignacio Bahamondes (17-5) defeated No. 13 lightweight Jalin Turner (14-9) via triangle choke at 2:29 of the first round. The submission was only the third of Bahamondes' 21-fight career and his first in over three years. With the loss, Turner has dropped five of his last six fights dating back to February 2022.

--Will Despart, Field Level Media