Conor McGregor was extremely impressed by Alex Pereira’s stunning knockout win over Jiri Prochazka on Saturday night.
‘Poatan’ dropped Prochazka at the end of the opening round before closing the show in the second stanza with a vicious head kick followed by some nasty ground and pound.
Alex Pereira retained his UFC light heavyweight title against Jiri Prochazka with a nasty KOCredit: GETTY
The Czech UFC star was dazed and confused as he attempted to make his way back to his feet and had to be caught by referee Herb Dean as he flopped forward into his arms.
With that, Pereira successfully defended his UFC light heavyweight title for a second time and is now aiming to become the first three-weight champion in the company’s history by moving up to heavyweight and challenging for the title.
McGregor, who was initially booked in to face Michael Chandler in the UFC 303 main event before their bout got postponed, congratulated Pereira on X by writing: “Left high kick,” accompanied by a sad face and a clapping emoji.
‘Notorious’ withdrew from the Chandler fight after suffering a broken toe in sparring, leading to Pereira vs Prochazka being put together as a makeshift main event for UFC 303 on less than three weeks’ notice.
Last week, McGregor was still unable to wear shoes due to his injury but the Irishman is now back kicking again.
Uploading a photo of himself landing a left high kick on his opponent, McGregor wrote: “Thank you God.”
He also posted a picture of him on the mats holding his pinky toe, which was heavily strapped up with blue tape.
It is presently unclear exactly when McGregor vs Chandler will be rescheduled but the former dual-weight UFC champion insists he will be ready in two months.
McGregor quickly deleted the image from social mediaCredit: @thenotoriousmma – instagram
A minor injury has delayed the Irishaman’s comebackCredit: X – @thenotoriousmma
“August or September I’d love,” he told Severe MMA when asked about his potential return date last week.
“You know the way it is. I’m in recovery mode. It happened three weeks ago to the day. And I’m still here rocking around in the slippers.
“They are not bad slippers, thankfully. They are cosy enough, but I can’t get into a shoe yet.”
Chandler also recently told John Morgan that the fight will happen ‘quicker than people think’.
“We’re gonna stay patient – we’re not going to let him [Conor McGregor] off the hook,” he said on Friday.
“Talks are happening between me and the UFC, I’m meeting with them tonight actually.
“I know Conor is going to be ready to come back soon, ‘cause it’s just a pinky toe injury, so we’ll see.”