Couldn't disagree with you more, also my comments are opinions, so you can't really say opinions are off base. I also congratulated Pereira in my post so saying I take credit from him is kind of silly. For the finish, it started when Pereira landed the left hook he was looking for all fight and was always just an inch or two away. It's the same punch he KOd Izzy with before, same one he got Strickland with, etc. Thats his punch, and when it landed it was the beginning of the end. Everyone knew that was the strike that he needed to land, and he landed it in the 5th. I don't feel he did any significant, substantial, or cumulative damage that would contribute to the ending sequence, it was just that strike that started it. I think Izzy had him doubled up on significant head strikes going into the 5th, so that says where they were at as far as his success up to that point.
I give Pereira a lot of credit because he knew what he needed to do and he did it. I'm not an Izzy fan in the slightest, I had money on Pereira and I'm glad he won. However, I do think Izzy proved in the 3rd round that he had an easy course to victory if he pursued the ground game. He didn't. He tried some half hearted trips in the clinch, but didnt commit to shots or anything of that nature. Maybe he doesn't have it in his arsenal but when you see how big of a mismatch there is on the ground, the high IQ play is to commit to getting the fight there. I think he went into this with something to prove regarding the striking matchup, the comments he made leading up to the fight suggest that the previous fights were in his head, and I think his desire to stand with Alex was his eventual downfall. That's my take, you can have your own but you can't say my opinion is wrong or off base.
As I said initially, congrats Pereira, fun fight fun ending. Hope he gets someone different for his first defense.