Author: mmafighting
Jiri Prochazka knows that it was Alex Pereira’s day this time. In the main event of UFC 295 on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Prochazka fell short of regaining a vacant light heavyweight title after being put down via strikes from the power-punching Pereira in the second round. It was Prochazka’s first fight since vacating the title in November 2022 after suffering a shoulder injury. Pereira’s win was not without controversy. The finish came shortly after Prochazka was badly rocked by a Pereira strike, but several fighters and fans online protested the timing referee Marc Goddard’s…
Alex Pereira did it again. The former UFC middleweight champ ascended to rarefied air on Saturday, knocking out Jiri Prochazka with a second-round barrage inside New York’s fabled Madison Square Garden to capture the vacant light heavyweight belt and become a two-division king at UFC 295. Pereira’s victory headlined a violent night that also saw Tom Aspinall smash through Sergei Pavlovich on short notice to claim the interim heavyweight belt. With so much to discuss, let’s dive right into our seven biggest takeaways from UFC 295. 1. Four months ago, I wrote in this space that Alex Pereira was speed-running…
Tom Aspinall has his heart set on a fight with Jon Jones. After a triumphant performance against Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event of UFC 295 on Saturday, Aspinall now holds an interim heavyweight title, a belt created in the absence of undisputed champion Jon Jones. Jones and Stipe Miocic were scheduled to fight at UFC 295, but Jones was forced to withdraw due to an injury, and Aspinall vs. Pavlovich was booked as a replacement fight. A unification bout between Aspinall and Jones makes perfect sense, except for the fact that both Jones and Miocic have insisted their next…
If Francis Ngannou wanted to fight Jon Jones, he should have done it in the UFC. That was essentially the message delivered by UFC CEO Dana White when asked about potentially co-promoting with the PFL to book the heavyweight tilt between Ngannou and Jones. PFL executives pushed for that possibility after Ngannou fought Tyson Fury to a razor-close split decision loss in his professional boxing debut, which only raised his visibility as a draw for the organization. Unfortunately, Ngannou’s options for viable opposition that are currently signed to the PFL remains slim, and White doesn’t see any reason why he…
This is the UFC 295 live blog for Jiri Prochazka vs. Alex Pereira, the vacant light heavyweight title fight on Saturday in New York. Making his UFC debut in 2020, Prochazka immediately began making an impact, earning a light heavyweight title shot in just his third fight in the promotion. In that fight, Prochazka outlasted Glover Teixeira in the 2022 Fight of the Year to claim the belt, and was set to start his reign last December until a shoulder injury forced him to vacate championship. Now fully recovered, Prochazka hopes to reclaim the belt he never lost in the…
UFC 295 will go down as one of the wildest UFC events of 2023 with a main card full of finishes, including championship victories for Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall in the final two bouts. Though the main event carried a bit of controversy, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, Shaun Al-Shatti, and Jed Meshew react to Pereira’s historic light heavyweight championship knockout victory over Jiri Prochazka in the main event, whether or not referee Marc Goddard made the correct call in stopping the fight, Pereira’s callout of Israel Adesanya, and where Prochazka goes from here. Additionally, they discuss Aspinall’s quick knockout…
Watch Jiri Prochazka vs. Alex Pereira full fight video highlights from the main event of UFC 295, courtesy of the UFC and other outlets. UFC 295: Prochazka vs. Pereira took place Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka (29-4-1) faced off against former UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira (9-2) for the vacant light heavyweight belt in the night’s main event. The fight aired live on ESPN+ pay-per-view. Catch the video highlights below. For more on Prochazka vs. Pereira, check out the live blog by MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew. Round 1 Both…
Just 11 fights into his MMA career, Alex Pereira became a two-division champion after he bludgeoned Jiri Prochazka with elbows to claim the vacant light heavyweight title in the UFC 295 main event. He captured gold after punishing Prochazka with leg kicks early and then he dropped the former champion with a staggering left hook as they exchanged blows near the cage. As soon as Prochazka fell to his knees, he attempted to grab onto a takedown to survive a potential onslaught. Pereira reacted by unleashing a barrage of punches and elbows to the side of Prochazka’s head, which caused…
The UFC handed out extra bonuses for Saturday’s UFC 295, including a well-deserved one for the new light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. Pereira took home an extra $50,000 bonus for his second-round stoppage of ex-champ Jiri Prochazka at Madison Square Garden in New York City, UFC CEO Dana White announced at the post-event press conference. A total of five finishers earned “Performance of the Night” bonuses, and the prelim draw between Nazim Sadykhov and Viacheslav Borshchev captured “Fight of the Night,” giving the indecisive result a silver lining for the lightweights. Here are the five remaining bonus winners: Main card…
Alex Pereira’s storied career continued Saturday night with a second-round stoppage of Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295, his second title win in four octagon bouts. An unfortunate asterisk to the fight was the way the fight was stopped, at 4:08 of Round 2 when referee Marc Goddard stepped in to wave off the bout. Prochazka had just taken a pair of hard hooks and several elbows to his head from Pereira and was falling back when Goddard stepped in. Prochazka did not protest the stoppage in his post-fight interview, admitting he was out when he took the shots from Pereira,…