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Alex Pereira is going to be absolutely massive when he steps into the octagon at UFC 307.

“Poatan” puts his light heavyweight title on the line for the third time this year against Khalil Rountree to cap off Saturday’s pay-per-view card in Salt Lake City. After hitting the mark at 205 pounds at Friday’s UFC 307 official weigh-in, Pereira stepped on the scale during a pre-fight meal, and weighed a whopping 230 pounds — a video that originally was seen on Pereira’s Instagram stories.

Check out the fight day weigh-in from the champ in the video below.

Pereira weighed in at 104.3 kilograms, which equates to 229.9 pounds. The two-division title winner captured the light heavyweight championship at UFC 295 this past November with a knockout of Jiri Prochazka. He then went on to knockout Jamahal Hill, and Prochazka for a second time at UFC 300 and UFC 303, respectively.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Alex Pereira and Khalil Rountree have both provided memorable highlights, now putting those two elements in Salt Lake City — a location that has delivered all-time UFC moments over the past couple of years.

Saturday’s UFC 307 event will be headlined by a light heavyweight championship main event between Pereira and Rountree, while Raquel Pennington puts her newly-won women’s bantamweight title on the line against past champ Julianna Pena in the co-main event.

Watch the UFC 307 cold open below, narrated by actor Ron Perlman.

Pereira looks to add to his Fighter of the Year campaign as he puts his belt on the line for the third time this year. “Poatan” delivered brutal knockouts of Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 in April, and Jiri Prochazka at June’s UFC 303 event. It will be Pereira’s fourth fight in the past 11 months.

Rountree gets his first crack at UFC gold following a stoppage win over one-time title challenger Anthony Smith earlier this year.

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Jon hits back
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Magomed Ankalaev is upset for not landing the next shot at UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and it’s hard to blame him. The Russian contender is unbeaten in his last 12 trips to the Octagon and was expected to get his hands on “Poatan” this year.

Unfortunately for Ankalaev, UFC matchmakers skipped him in line and decided to grant the No. 8-ranked Khalil Rountree Jr. the opportunity to fight Pereira for the belt this weekend at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a move that shocked many in the sport considering Rountree seemed to be at least two more wins away from a shot at UFC gold.

Ankalaev, who is currently scheduled to fight Aleksandr Rakic at UFC 308 this October, will have to wait his turn. The Russian fighter has been going toe-to-toe with Pereira in the media, but that’s not enough. Ankalaev wants to get his hands on Pereira and most fight fans want to see it, too. That is, of course, if “Poatan” doesn’t decide to leave the light heavyweight division in 2025 to challenge for heavyweight (or middleweight) supremacy.

For now, fight fans are expecting to see Pereira win at UFC 307, Ankalaev to win at UFC 308, and the two fighters to finally settle their beef sometime early next year. A lot can go wrong with those plans because Rountree and Rakic are two very dangerous fighters in the UFC’s light heavyweight division, but it’s the most likely scenario.

On Saturday, Ankalaev took to social media to give his official prediction for Saturday’s title fight between Pereira and Rountree. Ankalaev believes that Pereira will fall back on some magical voodoo to capture another impressive knockout, but also promised to “beat this demon out of him” when they finally meet.

Check it out below:

“My prediction for UFC 307 main event @AlexPereiraUFC win KO voodoo help.

After this, I have to do my job and I will beat this demon out of him. They will never come back.”

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 307 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6:30 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPNN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 307: “Pereira vs. Rountree Jr.” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 307 fight card and ESPN+ lineup click here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Ketlen Vieira has a point to prove at UFC 307.

The UFC veteran once again enters a fight looking to earn a shot at the bantamweight title with a victory, and feels it may finally come if she beats two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison this Saturday in Salt Lake City, especially with all the hype surrounding the former PFL champion.

“I think she underestimates me,” Vieira said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “When she says she’s better than me in all areas, she’s underestimating me. She’s a very good athlete, she’s a Olympic medalist for a reason, but she’s not better than me in everything because she’s completely dependent on taking the fight to the ground. We haven’t seen her trade on the feet for three rounds. Maybe she can do that in the future, but I don’t see that right now.”

Harrison said during the UFC 307 media day on Wednesday she believes she “can beat all three girls in the same night,” referring to her upcoming opponent and both UFC 307 co-headliners, Raquel Pennington and Julianna Peña.

Harrison has only fought once inside the octagon, dominating and finishing Holm with a rear-naked choke. Vieira also holds a win over Holm, as well as Miesha Tate, Cat Zingano and Sara McMann.

“I’m used to this already,” Vieira said. “People always say I’m the underdog and I’m still here, beating the best. I’ve been here many times before. When I fought McMann the winner would fight for the belt, and I won. When I fought Cat Zingano, who was the only woman to beat Amanda [Nunes in the UFC], the winner would go for the belt, and I won. I beat two other ex-champions, Miesha and Holly. I’m used to big fights. People have short memory and continue to underestimate me.”

Vieira sees the Harrison clash as a “semifinal” to determine the next contender in the 135-pound division, and expects Pennington to successfully defend her throne Saturday against Peña.

“It’s a great fight for me,” Vieira said of Harrison. “I’m more complete than Kayla, I have more tools. I have good ground game and good judo as well. You can’t learn to defend judo takedowns in judo, but that’s something I’ve done my entire life. And I’m also evolving on the feet. I’m getting more complete every day. If I have to grapple with her, I will. If I have to trade with her, I will. She can’t do the same because she completely dependent on her ground game.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Khalil Rountree may not have the credentials to match Alex Pereira when it comes to career accomplishments, but it doesn’t make him any less dangerous when they start trading bombs at UFC 307.

Ever since he first started doing MMA, Rountree’s wins were usually defined by highlight-reel knockouts, and he’s never feared trading strikes with anybody. That included his 2018 fight against Gokhan Saki, who was one of the most credentialed kickboxers to ever set foot in the UFC octagon, and Rountree needed just over 90 seconds to send him to the shadow realm.

Rountree’s longtime head coach John Wood says the vibes are feeling awfully similar ahead of a showdown against Pereira this weekend.

“When the Gokhan Saki fight happened for Khalil, he was just amped,” Wood told MMA Fighting. “There was no hesitation. Same thing with this. We’re going to take it the same way. He’s going to shock a lot of people.

“I believe Khalil can stand with anybody in the world. He’s got that level of talent when it comes to striking.”

Now just because Wood has full confidence in Rountree’s ability to end the fight with strikes, he’s not looking at Pereira as an easy opponent by any stretch of the imagination.

Since moving to light heavyweight, Pereira has gone undefeated and delivered three consecutive knockouts over two former UFC champions in Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill. Pereira is widely considered the most lethal striker in the sport, and Wood fully acknowledges that has to be respected.

“Pereira, we all know what he’s done and doing,” Wood said. “He is the legit boogeyman in the UFC right now. It’s the kind of stuff that gets me going in the morning. I love it.

“There’s no doubt Alex is the best in the world at that division. The guy is as scary as they come. He’s got the power. He’s got the death touch. He’s got everything going for him right now, the hype, it’s not an easy task. I have a lot of respect for the guy for what he does. But with that being said, he’s never fought somebody like Khalil.”

When it comes to the potential exchanges on the feet, Wood believes there are absolutely areas where Rountree can put a hurting on Pereira where other opponents have failed.

“[Alex Pereira has] never fought somebody who has the power, the speed, the vision, the timing that Khalil has,” Wood said. “Khalil — I’m not going to say he’s better than Alex but he’s better at certain things.

“Alex is really good at doing what he does and it doesn’t always look pretty. As a coach, you could easily get caught up and say all of his stuff is technically wrong. He does that at the highest level. He does a lot of his shit to bring you in, to draw you in to think you can get there and then knocks you out. Khalil can do all that, just a lot sharper.”

Because so much attention has been paid to the striking exchanges, Wood quickly points out that it’s an MMA fight and anything can happen. That means the team at Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas is getting Rountree ready for everything — including a possible takedown attempt from Pereira.

“Try to take him down,” Wood said. “It’s going to be tough and you’re probably going to get clipped doing it. We’re ready for all facets. I talked to him today [and told him] you might clip Alex and he might want to turn this into a wrestling match. We’re going to be ready for everything.”

No matter how it plays out, Wood doesn’t see any world where Rountree and Pereira go for the full five rounds. The high chances that this fight ends in violent fashion had to at least play some part in the UFC’s matchmaking.

Wood wouldn’t offer an exact prediction but he expects Rountree to win and put Pereira away to do it.

“I will not be surprised at all when this fight ends early and Khalil has that belt wrapped around his waist,” Wood said. “If you know and people that have followed, Khalil is another one of those guys really coming into his MMA game, really coming into his own as a fighter the last couple of fights. I do not see this fight going five rounds. There’s no humanly possible way that happens and I do not see Khalil losing.

“I think somebody is going out and I don’t think it’s going to be us and that’s with all due respect to Pereira and his team. He’s got a legendary coach. He’s a legend in his own right. It’s an honor to coach against these guys. Obviously, I’ve got a live dog in this fight and I think that we’re going to get it. There’s no doubt in my mind that Khalil leaves that cage with the belt.”

Of course, Rountree has dealt with some criticism that he didn’t earn this opportunity and there were more deserving contenders out there. He’s largely brushed that off and stayed focused on the task at hand, which is beating Pereira on Saturday.

His coach said much the same but promised if there’s any question about whether or not Rountree belongs in the same cage as Pereira, he’ll give an emphatic answer on Saturday.

“I think you’re going to see the best Khalil Rountree that you’ve ever seen,” Wood said. “That is a scary, scary man.”

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