UFC 307 results: Biggest winners, loser from ‘Pereira vs. Rountree’ last night

UFC 307 went down last night (Sat., Oct. 5, 2024) inside Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, which saw Alex Pereira retain his Light Heavyweight title by stopping Khalil Rountree with an onslaught of punishment in the fourth round (see it again here). In the co-main event, Julianna Pena once again became the women’s Bantamweight champion after narrowly defeating the now-former champion, Raquel Pennington, via split decision.

Biggest Winner: Alex Pereira

“Poatan” got off to somewhat of a slow start (by his standards) in his main event bout against Rountree, getting tagged and dropped early on, though he eventually found his groove. By the time the third round came around, Pereira started to find his range and started to tee off on Rountree, who was a bloody mess come round four, though he refused to back down and showed a ton of heart before the champ tagged him with some body blows that put him out for the count. For Pereira, that is now his third straight title defense, further adding to his ever-impressive resume and legacy, which includes five straight wins, four via KO/TKO. He vowed to stay at 205 pounds for now, but an interim Heavyweight title fight against Tom Aspinall sure sounds tempting.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Runner Up: Julianna Pena

Look, it wasn’t a dominant win, but at the end of the day it was a championship victory by “The Venezuelan Vixen.” And it didn’t come easy because Pennington had her shining moments and made it tough for Pena to re-claim her strap. It could have gone either way, but Pena did do enough on the judges’ scorecards to reach the pinnacle of the sport once more. Perhaps as important, however, is that she likely secured herself a major title fight against Kayla Harrison, who won earlier in the night against Ketlen Vieira. And yes, this is despite the fact that Pena is still trying to lure Amanda Nunes out of retirement.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Honorable Mention: Joaquin Buckley

Don’t look now, but Buckley is on the path to his first-ever Top 10 ranking after icing Stephen Thompson in the third and final round of their 170-pound collision (see it again here). It was “New Mansa’s” fifth straight win — three via knockout — inside the Octagon, one of the better current win streaks in the division. A couple more impressive victories like that, and don’t be too surprised when you start hearing his name in the championship conversation.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Biggest Loser: Stephen Thompson

There comes a time when you start to wonder if a fighter has lost a step or three, and if he/she will ever return to the form that brought them to relevance. Once known as a striking machine capable of knocking your block off with his dangerous karate kicks, Thompson has looked everything but that over the last three years because he has lost four of his last five fights, and his last two, including his knockout defeat at the hands of Joaquin Buckley. He will easily drop out of the Top 10, which probably should have happened a while back, and the big fights will probably never be offered up to him moving forward. That’s not to say he can’t turn things around, but the 41-year old has a tough road ahead if he wants to do that. Perhaps the promotion wasn’t all that wrong in putting him on the undercard?

For complete UFC 307 results, coverage, and highlights, click HERE.