UFC 275 Review: Prochazka SUBMITS Glover to Capture UFC Gold

Singapore certainly got what they paid for at UFC 275 as Glover Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka went to war for 24 and a half minutes. Ultimately, it was Prochazka who came out on top and defied all the odds by submitting the champion and becoming the first fighter from the Czech Republic to be UFC champion. Elsewhere, Valentina Shevchenko secured a razor thin split decision victory of Taila Santos in the co-main event and Zhang Weili knocked out Joanna Jędrzejczyk with a crazy spinning backfist to add another victory over the former strawweight queen. Let's begin with the main event. Who could have predicted that finish? With not even 30 seconds left of the fight Jiri Prochazka choked out Glover Texieira to steal light heavyweight gold and earn himself a place in the history books. For almost 25 minutes the two men provided with a classic for the ages, one of the best fights ever at 205lbs. Both men had their moments, whether it was on the feet or on the mat, but Jiri ultimately proved he could not be broken and sunk in the rear naked choke, a surprise to many. Heading into the fight, I had my doubts about Jiri and the fight going more than 3 rounds, with the Czech's wild and unorthodox style leaving many openings in his previous two fights for the company, it felt as if the champ Texieira would have a field day in shooting takedowns and getting into mount. Glover did that many times over the course of four and a bit rounds, so many opportunities where it almost looked inevitable, but it wasn't to be.

Prochazka's warrior spirit was not broken, despite taking the majority of damage, he kept fighting and punishing Glover right until he choked him out. Glover's credentials on the mat would have directly opposed any sort of idea of Jiri wanting to grapple, but the Czech had plenty of control and moments where he looked comfortable on the mat with such an experienced practitioner. We must not forget about his striking display, youthfulness and speed just proved too much at times for Glover who took some hard shots and looked in trouble across the fight. Glover did have his moments too, cracking Jiri multiple times with that beautiful straight right, but perhaps the intention of taking it to the mat was too intent in Glover's mind to the point where it was the wrong decision. It was a fight for the ages, definitely a fight of the year contender come the end of 2022. Jiri is the first of the 'new generation' to become Light Heavyweight Champion too, with Jan Blachowicz, Glover Teixeira, Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones all holding the strap between 2011 and 2022. In terms of what's next, Jiri against Jan Blachowicz seems like the most logical choice, a proper European battle for UFC gold, let's hope it's as good as Saturday nights fight!

You could argue Valentina Shevchenko found herself lucky to still be Flyweight champion at the end of the night. Huge respect goes out to Taila Santos, before fight night she said that her and the team had found weaknesses in Valentina's game, saying it is one thing but actually doing it is another and Santos certainly delivered. She was unlucky not to come away with the belt, a technical game-plan that was executed well really did exploit holes that we've not seen for a long time with Valentina. At the end of the day though, the champ did come into the fight as it progressed and arguably did just enough to make it another successful title defence. Open scoring in MMA has frequently been a debated question of recent times, maybe a fight like this one would emphasise the benefits of such officiating. As for Valentina, is it time she moved back up to 135? Her resume at 125 is incredible, regardless of the outcome of Pena v Nunes 2 it seems the best choice for her, a chance at revenge if Nunes wins or another name to add to the list in Pena. Zhang Weili made it 2-0 against Joanna Jędrzejczyk with a fantastic spinning backfist KO in the second round. Their first meeting was an instant classic back in 2020, for as long as this lasted it was a quality fight once again. The inclusion of wrestling from Zhang proved to be a fight changer, her ground and pound was vicious, she is clearly very naturally strong and perhaps this could be used more frequently as a path to victory in her next fight. Joanna and Zhang both had success on the feet too, but the backfist on whilst circling/ on the backfoot was incredible timing. With many facets to her game, Weili has another great chance to become strawweight champion, but is the title shot against Esparza next for her? Jędrzejczyk also announced her retirement from MMA in her post fight interview, a true pioneer of the sport, the Pole most definitely deserves to be inducted in the hall of fame for her contribution to female mixed martial arts. The other two fights on the main card, Andre Fialho v Jake Matthews and Jack Della Maddalena vs Ramazan Emeev were spectacular. Fialho was outstruck and soundly beaten by Jake Matthews who showed another level of striking, so crisp and accurate, timing his strikes to perfection. Fialho looked a little one dimensional, not enough feints and movement to really trouble the Aussie. Fialho does his best work in the pocket and in order to get into the pocket, closing the distance is your aim, however, he wasn't smart enough when attempting to get in close. Matthews was happy to trade in and out of range and was ultimately too much. The other Aussie, Jack Della Maddalena, also extended his win streak to an impressive 12 (in and outside of the UFC), a first round finish against a respectable opponent like Emeev will only increase his stock. The grappling background of the Russian was a problem as he also submitted Maddalena, but as soon as Maddalena found a way out, his striking did the rest of the talking, two heavy body shots and some ground and pound signalled the end. With likenesses to the brilliant Dustin Poirier, Jack Della Madallena is certainly one to keep a closer eye on. With another PPV out the way, there's more UFC to feast upon this weekend too, as top featherweights Calvin Kattar and Josh Emmett headline at the UFC Apex.