Alex Pereira explains why he had to take on the match at short notice

UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira wasn't about to miss out on the big opportunity.

Pereira (10-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) will face Jiri Prochazka (30-4-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) in the main event of UFC 303 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) on Saturday from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Pereira got the call less than two weeks after the original main event bout between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler fell through, marking his first fight in two months since knocking out Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 in April. It was another last-minute main event bout for Pereira.

“I like taking these opportunities,” Pereria told MacLife through a translator. “I'm almost 37, so I don't know how much longer I'll keep fighting. For me, it's a good opportunity to stay active, to keep training. I'm always training, so whenever these opportunities come, I just have to take them.”

Pereira's decision to take the bout on short notice was also influenced by the presence of Prochazka, who he was already looking forward to as an opponent.

“It's hard to accept that I'd fight someone else, but in this case it was Ijiri,” Pereira said. “Not because I'd fought him before and won, but because I knew we'd be fighting soon.”

“I didn't think it would happen so soon, but we were already expecting to fight each other, so it feels like it's about the same timing. If we were to fight in August, that's when we would start training.”

Pereira knocked out Prochazka at UFC 295 last November to win the vacant light heavyweight title, and he doesn't expect Prochazka to be any different in a rematch.

“I don't think he's changed that much. It hasn't been that long,” Pereira said of Prochazka. “I just watched his last fight yesterday, and obviously it's a different fight so you can't compare it, but I don't think he's changed that much since his last fight. If there's one thing he could change, it's his takedown defense.”

For more on the card, check out MMA Junkie's UFC 303 event hub.