SALT LAKE CITY — Alex Pereira defeated Khalil Rountree Jr. by TKO with 28 seconds left in the fourth round at UFC 307 on Saturday night to retain the UFC light heavyweight title.
This was Pereira's fourth consecutive title fight (12-2) and his third consecutive successful title defense.
Rountree (14-6) showed some speed early and landed some hard strikes.
At one point, in the second round, he ducked under a roundhouse kick and countered with a powerful hook to the face.
However, Pereira showed more precision and consistency in his striking in the early rounds.
In the fourth round, Pereira won due to his stamina.
He put Rountree on his heels and covered his face multiple times to thwart his attacks.
Pereira eventually pushed Rountree against the fence and peppered him with blows until Rountree fell to his knees, causing the referee to stop the fight.
Pereira's victory headlined the five-fight main card on Saturday night.
Juliana Peña defeated Raquel Pennington by split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) in what was billed as the co-main event to regain the women's bantamweight title.
Pena originally held the title by defeating Amanda Nunes at UFC 269 in 2021, but lost the title to Nunes in a rematch at UFC 277 in 2022.
Pena (13-5) was fighting in his first UFC fight in two years.
She was originally scheduled to challenge Nunes for the title again at UFC 289, but withdrew a month before the fight after suffering a broken rib during training.
With this loss, Pennington's winning streak (16 wins, 10 losses) that had lasted until 2020 ended at five.
Peña dominated the early rounds.
She dragged Pennington to the canvas in the second, then shook him off his feet in the third for a repeat takedown.
In both cases, Pennington struggled to escape her control.
Pennington briefly shifted momentum when a hard right hook knocked him down in the fourth round.
She was the better striker throughout the five rounds, but not enough to win.
In the other women's bantamweight bout, Kayla Harrison defeated Ketlen Vieira by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).
Harrison (18-1) made a big statement while outperforming Vieira (14-4), who entered the bout as the No. 2 ranked fighter in the bantamweight rankings.
She bulldozed Vieira to the canvas in the first and third rounds as well, keeping her shoulders pinned to the floor until the final horn in the third round.
The win opened the door for Harrison, who was ranked No. 3 before the fight, to challenge Pena for the title.
She has steadily improved since becoming an MMA fighter after winning two Olympic gold medals in judo with Team USA in 2012 and 2016.
Roman Dorise (14-3) defeated Kevin Holland by TKO in a middleweight bout, earning his sixth win in eight fights.
Holland (26-12) withdrew before the start of the second round with a rib injury, suffering his third loss in his last four matches.
In the men's bantamweight bout, Mario Bautista (15-2) defeated Jose Aldo by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28), winning his seventh straight bout.
Bautista pressured Aldo (32-9) with relentless attacks over three rounds.
However, he pinned the former UFC featherweight champion in the cage for an extended period of time, drawing boos from the Delta Center crowd with a split decision in Bautista's favor.
