UFC Announces Stacked Fall Pay-Per-View Card Featuring Alex Pereira's Return

UFC 307 is official, with two title fights including Alex Pereira's third fight in six months.
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The UFC's fall schedule is finally coming together.

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The promotion confirmed its return to Salt Lake City, Utah, Wednesday afternoon for a pay-per-view event headlined by Alex Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) as he defends his light heavyweight title for the third time in six months when he takes on eighth-ranked Khalil Rountree Jr. (13-5 MMA, 9-5, 1 NC UFC), a winner of five-straight fights.

Since joining the UFC in November 2021, Pereira has had a meteoric rise, proving himself a worthy champion across two weight divisions. In mid-2023, he moved to 205 pounds before becoming the champion with a KO in November against former titleholder Jiří Procházka (30-5-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC), whom he would go on to finish again in June at UFC 303.

Rountree Jr. has been with the UFC since 2016, and he has defeated Anthony Smith, Karl Roberson, Dustin Jacoby, and Chris Daukas, to name a few.

UFC CEO Dana White said in a statement he looks forward to coming back to Utah again, citing the last two events as benchmarks for how successful the Oct. 5 show could be.

“We are headed back to Utah for the third year in a row," White said. "The last two events have been an incredible experience with two of the most iconic knockouts ever [Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman and Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje]. And this main event for the light heavyweight title is between two of the hardest punchers in the division. The fans at the Utah events have been amazing and this is one of the nicest arenas I’ve ever been to. I want to thank the Utah Sports Commission and Smith Entertainment Group for their continued support. Get ready, everybody - UFC 307 is going to be a fun one!”

The co-main event features a women's bantamweight title fight between Raquel Pennington (16-8 MMA, 13-5 UFC) and former bantamweight champion Julianna Peña (10-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC), who is making her return to the promotion after over two years away. Pennington won the vacant title in January by defeating Mayra Bueno Silva, earning her sixth-straight win.

The rest of the card is extremely top-heavy, which includes Kayla Harrison's second UFC appearance, this time opposite Ketlen Vieira. The card also sees Movsar Evloev take on Aljamain Sterling at featherweight, plus the return of José Aldo taking on Mario Bautista.

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Below is a tentative, non-finalized bout order. At press time, the event has ten fights with potentially more announcements on the way. The card takes place at Vivint Arena.

UFC 307 Current Bout Order

  • Main Event: Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree Jr., light heavyweight – Pereira’s UFC light heavyweight title
  • Co-Main Event: Raquel Pennington vs. Julianna Pena, women’s bantamweight – Pennington’s UFC women’s bantamweight title
  • Ketlen Vieira vs. Kayla Harrison, women’s bantamweight
  • Jose Aldo vs. Mario Bautista, bantamweight
  • Aljamain Sterling vs. Movsar Evloev, featherweight
  • Marina Rodriguez vs. Iasmin Lucindo, women’s strawweight
  • Cesar Almeida vs. Ihor Potieria, middleweight
  • Carla Esparza vs. Tecia Pennington, women’s strawweight
  • Roman Dolidze vs. Kevin Holland, middleweight
  • Stephen Thompson vs. Joaquin Buckley, welterweight

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Zain Bando
ZAIN BANDO

Zain Bando is a writer for MMA Knockout, part of the Sports Illustrated/Minute Media umbrella. He has covered combat sports since 2019 for notable outlets BJPenn.com and FanSided MMA. He also co-hosts a podcast called "The MMA Outsiders," part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network, which airs Tuesday nights at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT. A Chicago suburban native, Bando has been enthralled with MMA since 2006 and has been fortunate to attend some of the most high-profile events in the sport's history, both as a fan and media member, including UFC 264, Bellator 297 and Kayla Harrison's PFL MMA debut. He is excited to take the next step in his combat sports writing journey and looks forward to continuing his following of the fight game for years to come. Bando can be reached via email at zainbando99@gmail.com or by social media @zainbando99