Pereira dethrones Ankalaev with a 1st-round stoppage at UFC 320

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Fan favorite Alex Pereira dethroned Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320, taking the light heavyweight championship with a first-round stoppage Saturday night.

Pereira (13-3-0) floored Ankalaev (21-2-1) after hurting him with a huge right hand and quickly went to work using thunderous elbows during a ground-and-pound before referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the bout at the 1:20 mark.

Pereira brought an end to Ankalaev’s 14-match unbeaten streak, while exacting revenge for a loss in the fighters’ first meeting in March.

“I wasn’t well that night, but tonight I was very well,” Pereira said through his translator.

Pereira lost to Ankalaev by unanimous decision on March 8, when the judges graded the fight on aggressiveness. This time, Pereira wasted no time in attacking Ankalaev with relentless pressure.

The 38-year-old Brazilian landed 28 of the 45 significant strike attempts, while Ankalaev, 33, was only able to land four of his nine attempts.

Pereira closed +200 at BetMGM Sportsbook, which means a $100 wager would have won $200. A Pereira by KO or TKO in under 2.5 rounds was +475.

While Pereira entered the arena with the sold-out crowd standing and roaring in approval, Ankalaev was greeted by a chorus of boos.

The 19,081 in attendance, which included Golden State Warriors stars Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler and Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, went into a frenzy the moment Dean stepped in to stop the fight.

Earlier in the night, in what some might have considered a title eliminator bout in the light heavyweight division for the right to face Pereira, second-ranked contender Jiri Prochazka (32-5-1) delivered a brutal left hand at the 3:04 mark of the third round to knock out No. 4 Khalil Rountree Jr. (15-7-0) in what earned the fight of the night.

Pereira had beaten Prochazka twice already, second-round knockouts at UFC 295 and 303.

After his victory, Pereira used his spotlight during the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan to call for a moment of silence in honor of Jon Jones’ older brother, Arthur, who died unexpectedly earlier this week.

“He was such a great guy,” UFC president Dana White said. “When somebody passes away so young in their sleep, it’s brutal. The conversations I’ve had with Jon, he’s handling it well.”

In the co-main event, champion Merab Dvalishvili (21-4-0) successfully defended his bantamweight title with a unanimous decision (49-45, 49-45, 49-46) over Cory Sandhagen (18-6-0). Dvalishvili, who strengthened his argument a Fighter of the Year contender, registered a UFC record for takedowns landed (20) with 37 attempts. His victory extended the division’s longest-ever win streak at 14 fights.

In their scheduled three-round featherweight bout, the stunned crowd watched No. 9 contender Youssef Zalal (18-5-1) top No. 8 Josh Emmett (19-6-0) by way of verbal submission at 1:38 of the first round with a wicked arm bar.

In the scheduled three-round middleweight bout, Joe Pyfer (15-3) came out aggressive in the second rout with two quick punches to drop Abus Magomedov (28-7-1), and then dominated on the ground until winning by submission via rear naked choke at the 1:44 mark.

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UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili, of Georgia, celebrates after defeating Cory James Sandhagen, of the United States, during UFC 320 Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Jiri Prochazka, top left, of Czechia, knocks out Khalil Rountree Jr., bottom, of the United States, in a light heavyweight bout during UFC 320, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Alex Pereira, right, of Brazil, hits UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev, of Russia, as the referee looks on during the UFC 320 mixed martial arts bout Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Alex Pereira, of Brazil, leaves the Octagon after defeating UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev, of Russia, during UFC 320 Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Alex Pereira, of Brazil, celebrates after defeating UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev, of Russia during the UFC 320 mixed martial arts bout Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The almighty eagle perched on a cactus while devouring a serpent on Mexico’s flag hints at the myth behind the foundation of the country’s capital.

It's a divine sign in an ancient legend, according to which the god Huitzilopochtli asked a group called the Mexica — who founded what was later known as the Aztec Empire — to leave their homeland in search of a place to establish a new city.

It took some 175 years before they spotted the sacred omen and established the city of Tenochtitlan in 1325 where Mexico City stands today.

How the eagle, the cactus and the serpent became an emblem and endured through the European conquest is the focus of a new exhibition. “A coat of arms, an emblem, a symbol of identity,” runs through Dec. 15 at the Old City Hall in downtown Mexico City.

The exhibit is among the government’s activities marking the 700th anniversary of the founding of the Mexica capital.

“Recognizing Tenochtitlan doesn’t mean recalling a dead past, but rather the living heartbeat that still beats beneath our city,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said during an official ceremony in July. “It was the center of an Indigenous world that built its own model of civilization — one in harmony with the Earth, the stars, and its gods and goddesses.”

Fragments of that civilization lie underneath the Old City Hall, the current seat of Mexico City’s government.

Built by order of Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés in 1522, its construction used stones from ancient Mexica sacred sites. The building has been renewed over time, but its halls have witnessed centuries of governance and symbolism.

“Holding the exhibition in this City Hall, a place of decisions and memory, is a way to recognize the history of those who once inhabited it and how its transformations still echo in Mexico City’s identity,” said Mariana Gómez Godoy, Director of Mexico City’s Cultural Heritage, during the exhibit’s inauguration in November.

The Mexica themselves recorded their story after Tenochtitlan fell to the Europeans. Several codices depict the path that led them to fulfill their deity’s task.

Eduardo Matos Moctezuma — an acclaimed archaeologist from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History — has argued that the legend is a symbolic retelling of historical events, rather than a literal claim about divine prophecy.

Still, according to the Templo Mayor Museum, the region's pre-Hispanic people preserved the origin story of a long journey that led to the founding of Tenochtitlan as a cornerstone of their traditions.

They honored a small island in Lake Texcoco, now central Mexico City, as the place where the Mexica found the eagle foretold by Huitzilopochtli.

The new exhibit offers a historical overview of how the image evolved — from its establishment as the city’s coat of arms in 1523 under Emperor Charles V to its transformation into an emblem of Mexico as an independent nation.

Curated by researcher Guadalupe Lozada, it also displays images portraying how it was adopted by the religious orders in charge of converting the Indigenous people to Catholicism.

While the eagle and cactus were already adopted by Europeans in the mid-16th century, the Jesuits introduced the serpent decades later. “From then on, it would remain a symbol of the city’s identity — one that would also spread throughout the rest of New Spain,” Lozada said.

According to her, plenty of monasteries dating back to the 17th century attest to how friars displayed the eagle and cactus in their sanctuaries. Even today, the emblem can still be seen above the façade of Mexico City’s cathedral and inside one of its chapels.

“Such was the strength of Mexica culture that the evangelizers sought to adopt it rather than exclude it,” she said. “It was like saying, ‘I acknowledge your history.’”

The same logic applied with the European conquerors. Even as they ordered the destruction of the Mexica religious complexes, the representation of the foundational myth was not erased from history.

“For them, conquering a city like Tenochtitlan was a matter of pride and therefore they never intended to deny its existence,” Lozada said. “This meant that the strength of the city buried beneath the new one underlies it and resurfaces — as if it had never disappeared.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Protesters gather in front of the Legislative Palace of San Lazaro in Mexico City, where the Mexican coat of arms is visible on the building's façade, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

People sit on benches in Plaza del Aguilita, where the evolution of the Mexican coat of arms is showcased, Mexico City, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

The entrance of Mexico City's National Museum of Anthropology features Mexico's national emblem on its façade, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

The Teocalli of the Sacred War, the only archaeological piece bearing the carved symbol of Tenochtitlan's founding, an eagle perched on a cactus, is on display at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

People at the square of Aguilita in Mexico City walk past a central sculpture depicting Mexico's coat of arms which shows an eagle perched on a cactus devouring a rattlesnake, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

Rosalba Sanchez Flores, a historian at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, points to the details of Mexico's coat of arms as depicted in the Codex Mendoza, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

People sit on benches in Plaza del Aguilita, where the evolution of the Mexican coat of arms is showcased, Mexico City, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

People sit at a rooftop bar overlooking Mexico City's Fine Arts Palace, where the Mexican coat of arms is visible atop the building's dome, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

Mexico's coat of arms decorates a large flag in the city's Zocalo square, Mexico City, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)