Storylines: Alex Pereira headlines the oldest PPV card ever

When Alex Pereira defends his UFC light heavyweight championship for the third time on Saturday, it will have been just 99 days since he made his second title defense in late June. Pereira, who faces Khalil Rountree Jr. in the UFC 307 main event (ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET), is not one to sit idle. He made his first defense of the belt in April, only 77 days before his second.

To put Pereira’s full-sprint run of championship activity in perspective, consider that of the other three UFC champs who have a fight currently booked, not one will step inside the cage having competed within the past 250 days. When Jon Jones puts his heavyweight title on the line in November, it will have been 580 days since he last fought.

Pereira is not a record-setter, though, not even close. In 2020, Deiveson Figueiredo defended the men’s flyweight title twice within 21 days. And Pereira is also miles away from another 125-pound record holder. The recently retired Demetrious Johnson put the championship up for grabs 11 times during a continuous reign of nearly six years. Even if Pereira can keep up his current pace and preeminence, he would need over two years to catch up.

Don’t put anything past him, but Pereira isn’t necessarily chasing “Mighty Mouse” and his impressive run versus thirsting to just beat another opponent. He’s talked of moving back down to middleweight, where he once was a champion, to challenge Dricus Du Plessis for his old belt. He’s also spoken of jumping the queue of heavyweights lined up in front of Jones and going for the dual unprecedented accomplishments of beating the GOAT and securing a strap in a third weight class.

No matter which way Pereira turns, a place in the history book awaits him on the horizon.

But Rountree can delete Pereira’s work-in-progress championship chapter this weekend with a single keystroke. The challenger is a sizable underdog (+385 at ESPN BET), but he packs an oversized punch. Rountree has won five fights in a row, four by knockout. He has produced seven knockouts and 13 knockdowns in his UFC career, both more than any other active light heavyweight. And he’s vowed to stand and trade with Pereira, one of the most terrifying punchers in the sport.

That main event storyline promises to play out ferociously, but it’s not the only intriguing one on Saturday’s two-title-fight card in Salt Lake City. Here are five things to watch for.

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1. Somebody’s ‘0’ does not have to go

Rountree has been in the UFC for eight years, competing 15 times and amassing just under two hours of fight time. Yet in all of his big moments inside the Octagon, Rountree has completed zero takedowns — because he hasn’t even attempted one.

Considering the kickboxing pedigree and lights-out power of Pereira — and the champ’s far less developed grappling game — it would be wise to take him down to the canvas, no? Rountree is not interested.

“I have no intention of shooting any takedowns or trying to take what people would consider the easy route. Honestly, I want to put on a fight to remember,” Rountree said during a recent episode of Michael Bisping‘s “Believe You Me” podcast. “This is a fight that I’m going to remember for the rest of my life, … so I want to deliver the same thing for the fans. I want this to be one of those fights where people talk about for years to come.”

That promise could silence the murmurs questioning why the UFC would hand a title shot to a 205-pounder not even in the top five. If Rountree, No. 7 in the ESPN rankings, is true to his word, Saturday night’s headliner should be a crowd-pleaser.

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2. The family that fights together …

Alayah Rose Pennington will be 16 months old on fight night — a little young to buy pay-per-views. But if she did have access to a TV and cartoons weren’t on, she would have multiple UFC 307 rooting interests. Both of her moms will be fighting.

Tecia Pennington, competing for the second time since giving birth in June 2023, will take on two-time former strawweight champion Carla Esparza in an early preliminary bout. And that’s just an appetizer for what the family meal will serve up later in the co-main event, when Raquel Pennington defends her bantamweight title against Julianna Peña.

The Penningtons will not be the first married couple to fight on the same UFC card. In 2020, Montana and Mark De La Rosa celebrated Valentine’s Day weekend by both competing inside the Octagon. Later that year, JP Buys and Cheyanne Vlismas, who were married at the time, also shared a UFC card.

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3. One small step for Kayla, one giant leap for women’s bantamweight?

Harrison’s UFC debut in April might have seemed an unqualified success, yet I will quibble with it. Sure, she thrashed a former champion, but Holly Holm is 42 years old and has just one win since 2020. Had Harrison pulled off that second-round submission against a prime-of-career Holm, I would have been wildly impressed. Instead, let’s say I’m mildly impressed and view Harrison as a promising work in progress.

At age 34, Harrison must progress swiftly to fulfill that promise. And that’s what she is set up to do at UFC 307, showcased on the same card as the Pennington-Peña title bout. Harrison’s opponent, Ketlen Vieira, is no pushover, but predominantly relies on grappling, and the Brazilian’s judo black belt pales in comparison to Harrison’s two Olympic gold medals in that discipline.

Women’s bantamweight lacks the star power once illuminated by Amanda Nunes and Ronda Rousey. Harrison could be on her way to restoring the luster.

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4. This fight card could be sponsored by AARP

At age 37, Pereira is the eldest of the UFC’s 11 reigning champions. At UFC 307, though, he will be only the seventh oldest fighter.

Pereira is among more than a dozen competitors in Saturday’s lineup who are 35 or older. Three have reached their 40th birthdays: Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson and Ovince Saint Preux, both 41, and 40-year-old Tim Means.

According to ESPN Research, the highest average age on a UFC fight card was 33.879315068 years at April’s UFC 300, headlined by Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill. That record will fall this weekend. I didn’t go into decimals in my calculation, but the average age among the 24 fighters scheduled to compete at UFC 307 is 34.4. Call this event one for the ages.

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5. And then there’s the ageless one

Within months of José Aldo‘s retirement from MMA two years ago, the UFC announced that the two-time featherweight champion would be a 2023 inductee into its Hall of Fame. No surprise there. Aldo owns the 145-pound division’s record for title defenses, with seven in the UFC and two more in its sister promotion, the WEC — before the UFC had his weight class. That run of success came during a decade-long 18-fight winning streak. “The King of Rio” was an obvious honoree.

However, Aldo wasn’t finished as a fighter. He had always dreamed of boxing, so last year, he stepped in the ring for three matches, two of them as a professional. He went undefeated. And then this past May — surprise, surprise — Aldo transitioned back into the Octagon, beating Jonathan Martinez at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro. Was this a hometown swan song? Nope.

Aldo, 38, fights Mario Bautista on Saturday, and there’s no exit door in sight. As he told CBS Sports before the Martinez fight, “I needed my time off and I had my time off. I’m recovered, and now I’m back in.”