Pereira waved off what looked to be a low blow from Hill before landing a left hook that sent the American sprawling backwards onto the canvas. He then pounced to rain down blows and force the stoppage at the 3:14 mark of the first round.
"I told everyone the whole time, he's a strong guy, I cannot go away from my strategy, and that's exactly what I was doing ... I was gauging the distance and the timing, and everything went perfectly," Pereira said in a post-fight interview in the cage.
Hill had won the title in January 2023, but an injury suffered playing basketball forced him to vacate in July and decorated kickboxer Pereira, a former UFC middleweight champ, took over the belt with a second-round knockout of Jiri Prochazka in November.
After coming through the fight relatively unscathed, Pereira said he would like to fight on the upcoming UFC card in Brazil in May, and that he had sustained no damage against Hill.
In the all-Chinese clash in the strawweight event, Zhang looked like she had almost ended the fight in the first round with a rear naked choke, but her 34-year-old opponent survived until the bell, looking unsteady as she got back to her feet.
Yan had some success on her feet, but Zhang brought the fight to the mat as often as possible, dominating the grappling exchanges en route to a unanimous decision victory.
In perhaps the most thrilling finish on the card, Max Holloway folded Justin Gaethje with a thunderous right hand to win their lightweight fight by knockout with one second left on the clock after a tremendous five-round battle.
