Alex Pereira wipes out Jiri Prochazka with head kick on one of UFC's wildest nights ever

LAS VEGAS -- The word gangster is thrown around in MMA circles way too easily, by promoters, managers, fighters, fans and media. It's used more than it was by the FBI during Al Capone's reign in Chicago a century ago.

On Saturday, though, it's more than appropriate to confer gangster status upon Dan Ige, Diego Lopes, Alex Pereira, Jiri Prochazka and a host of others who made UFC 303 at T-Mobile Arena one of the most remarkable nights in the company's 30-plus-year history.

What was supposed to be the triumphant return of Conor McGregor instead turned into Ige riding to the rescue to save the co-main event while the card was ongoing. What was expected to be a featherweight fight between Lopes and Brian Ortega -- which had only been added to the card on June 13 when McGregor withdrew from the card with a broken toe -- first morphed into a lightweight fight when Ortega couldn't make weight.

Then, in the real stunner, it turned into a fight with Ige when Ortega turned up with a 103-degree fever Saturday and pulled out in the middle of the afternoon as the card was beginning. Ige had a hard workout on Saturday and was getting a massage in the afternoon when he received a call from Hunter Campbell, the UFC's chief business officer and its de facto last-minute matchmaker.

When a fight falls out late, it's usually Campbell working the phones behind the scenes to fix it and put a new one together.

His task in this one was Herculean. He had two choices, Ige or Giga Chikadze. Ige lives in Las Vegas and was training for a July 20 fight, so Campbell called him first. Instantly, his business was done.

"I've been around and I've been there in the building and watched other guys in those big spots and get those huge opportunities," Ige told KevinIole.com. "I wanted those. I wanted that opportunity to be in a moment like that and step up and show who I am. And so this was a chance to become a legend."

He did, but so, too, did Pereira, who knocked out Prochazka with a kick to the head at 15 seconds of the second round of the main event, cementing himself as the champion and as one of the great strikers in UFC history.

There really is no equivalent in sports for what happened on Saturday. On June 12, the top three fights at UFC 303 had McGregor fighting Michael Chandler, Jamahal Hill facing Carlos Ullberg and Mayra Bueno Silva taking on Macy Chiasson.

McGregor pulled out on June 13 with what turned out to be a broken toe. That day, UFC CEO Dana White announced that Hill had injured a knee and was out. So Anthony Smith was booked against Ullberg and Lopes and Ortega were added to the card. Ullberg got hurt and fell out. Roman Dolidze then moved up a class to face Smith.

Pereira was in Australia on vacation when he got the call, asking if he would defend his belt on less than two weeks’ notice. There was never a doubt in his mind what he'd do. This is a guy who fought at UFC with not one, but two, broken toes.

And with a gate of $15.9 million Saturday, Pereira has now been in the main event for the third- and fourth-largest gates in UFC history. To be fair, most of those tickets Saturday were sold in anticipation of McGregor being on the card, but what Pereira is in the midst of doing is remarkable in and of itself. In less than three years in the UFC, he's won the middleweight and light heavyweight titles, gone 8-1 and beaten perhaps the most impressive list of fighters in succession any UFC fighter has ever done.

"When this fight was offered to me two weeks ago, many people doubted me and said this was not the right choice to take the fight," said Pereira, who dropped Prochazka with a crushing left hook at the bell to end the first and then finished him with a head kick in the second. "But I saw an opporunity."

Opportunity was White's word of the day. He was frustrated in the past at fighters who wouldn't take short-notice bouts. He took a shot at highly regarded MMA coach Greg Jackson without uttering Jackson’s name at the post-fight news conference for Jackson's advice to then-light heavyweight champion Jon Jones not to take a bout with Chael Sonnen on short notice at UFC 151. That show was never held.

But fighters all of a sudden are pouncing on opportunity all over the place now. A week earlier in Saudi Arabia, Khamzat Chimaev pulled out of his fight due to illness. On nine days' notice, Ikram Aliskerov, who was getting ready to fight in Las Vegas, hopped a plane and flew to Saudi Arabia to replace Chimaev against ex-middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. Whittaker also had to say yes to the fight.

Lopes was offered the fight with Ortega on June 13.

"I wanted the opportunity," he said.

At 3 a.m.PT Friday, his team received a call from Ortega's team. Ortega couldn't hit the 146-pound limit. So Lopes agreed to fight Ortega at lightweight.

At 4:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, Lopes found out that Ortega was ill. He accepted a fighter with Ige, whose medicals were in order for the Nevada Athletic Commission. Lopes agreed to fight in a 165-pound catch weight fight. He weighed in at 6:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, another weigh-in was held, with Lopes at 161 and Ige at 164.5, so that fight was on.

"This is not a job, and I tell you that all the time," White said. "It's all about opportunity. Who's hotter than Lopes right now, and Ige, even though he's ranked above [Lopes] took the opportunity to fight him."

Lopes won the fight 29-28 on all cards, but when Ige was interviewed in the Octagon afterward, many in the crowd rose and gave him a standing ovation.

Ige fought on Dana White's Contender Series in 2020 but didn't get a contract. He thought he should have, and he was disappointed. A few months later, he was in New York when he got a call from his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, on a Friday night to go to a night club. Ige planned to train early Saturday at Renzo Gracie's gym and didn't want to be out.

"Besides," he said, laughing, "I didn't have club clothes with me."

Abdelaziz was unusually insistent so Ige showed up. Abdelaziz was with Campbell and UFC matchmakers Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby. After a few drinks, Campbell handed Ige a UFC contract, making him an official UFC fighter. He's been a fun one to watch, and on Saturday, he showed that gangster spirit by doing the unthinkable and taking a fight on a couple of hours' notice.

"I dont' know if that's ever been done before," Ige said. "But you can't turn your back on a chance like this. I mean, I have been training very hard and I knew I was in great shape. I really felt I could do this. It was a huge moment, the kind of thing I have wanted for so long."

And though the decision went to Lopes, White correctly said Ige "didn't lose."

Nobody lost Saturday. The card turned out better than it probably would have had it remained together.

Payton Talbott had a remarkable KO on the undercard. Joe Pyfer came back with a vengeance from a loss and knocked Marc-Andre Barriault stiff.  Pereira capped the show with a statement-making knockout.

This was a night not to be forgotten, forged by athletes who made themselves legends through the sweat of their brows and their belief in themselves.

It doesn't get much better than this.