The narrative getting into the UFC 275 most important occasion between mild heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira and prime challenger Jiri Prochazka was that Prochazka wanted to do all the pieces in his energy to remain off the bottom if he needed to turn out to be champion. Prochazka threw the narrative for a loop by not solely surviving on the bottom spherical after spherical, however by ultimately pulling off a submission of his personal within the closing 30 seconds of the struggle to win the title in what was an all-time nice struggle.
Prochazka had good moments all through the struggle, showcasing his trademark unorthodox putting to blast Teixeira. However, for all of the challenger’s moments, Teixeira had a solution at each flip, scoring takedowns and battering Prochazka on the bottom.
Prochazka was left with a large minimize over his left eye from massive Teixeira strikes from mount, however each time Teixeira appeared to have grabbed management, Prochazka would discover a manner out of bother and again to his ft. Not solely was Prochazka surviving on the bottom, at a number of factors within the struggle, Prochazka was the person in management on the ground, touchdown his personal smashing ground-and-pound to attract blood from the Brazilian legend.
Then got here the ultimate spherical. With the struggle seemingly within the stability, Teixeira put the struggle on the bottom and gave the impression to be absolutely in management till Prochazka was in a position to kick off the cage and reverse the place. Shockingly, Prochazka noticed Teixeira’s uncovered neck and locked within the rear-naked choke, squeezing with all the pieces he needed to drive the faucet on the 4:32 mark of Spherical 5.
“Like I said, before the fight, I’m ready to end it first or fifth round,” Prochazka mentioned after the struggle. “It doesn’t matter. And it doesn’t matter which technique.”
What actually arrange the end might have been one particular flurry from Prochazka two rounds prior. With Teixeira backed into the cage, Prochazka switched his focus to the physique, drilling Teixeira with heavy punches and knees. Teixeira shot for a takedown out of desperation and fought on properly however the physique work clearly took a toll.
Teixeira admitted as a lot after the struggle, mentioning a tough weight minimize whereas saying it was not an excuse earlier than saying the physique pictures from Prochazka had sapped him of his stamina and left him unable to struggle off the ultimate submission.
Prochazka has now received 13 consecutive fights, all however one coming by stoppage. The submission was simply the third of Prochazka’s profession and the primary since 2014.
The struggle with Teixeira was solely Prochazka’s third within the UFC, making him one of many quickest in UFC historical past to ever win a title.
Teixeira mentioned after the struggle that he deliberate to struggle on, drawing loud cheers from the Singaporean crowd. The loss snapped a six-fight profitable streak for the 42-year-old, who, not like Prochazka, took 21 fights within the Octagon to turn out to be world champion.
CBS Sports activities was with you your entire manner on Saturday bringing you all the outcomes and highlights from the UFC 275 beneath.
UFC 275 card and outcomes
- Jiri Prochazka def. Glover Teixeira (c) through fifth-round submission (rear-naked choke)
- Valentina Shevchenko (c) def. Talia Santos through cut up determination (48-47, 47-48, 49-46)
- Zhang Weili def. Joanna Jedrzejczyk through second-round TKO (spinning again fist)
- Jake Matthews def. Andre Fiahlo through second-round TKO (punches)
- Jack Della Maddalena def. Ramazan Emeev through first-round TKO (punches)
- Josh Culibao def. Seungwoo Choi through cut up determination (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
- Hayisaer Maheshate def. Steve Garcia through first-round knockout (punch)
- Brendan Allen def. Jacob Malkoun through unanimous determination (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Kyung Ho Kang def. Danaa Batgerel through unanimous determination (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Silvana Gomez Juarez def. Liang Na through first-round TKO (punches)
- Joselyne Edwards def. Ramona Pascual through unanimous determination (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
