By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
We have another candidate for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight of the year.
During the main event of UFC 275, Czech fighter Jiri Prochazka pulled off a stunning comeback win via a rear-naked choke to dethrone reigning light heavyweight champion, Glover Texeira, in five thrilling rounds.
It was a grueling five-rounder bout for the light heavyweight belt as Prochazka and Texeira figured out in a bloody war that never skipped a beat.
From the get-go, it was a high-octane hitting exchange between both fighters but Texeira got the edge when he took down Prochazka several times in the opening round.
Prochazka retaliated in the next round after finally getting his favorable striking distance and landed a huge flying knee that connected straight to Texeira’s jaw.
The Czech knockout specialist then earned the nod of the judges after putting on a boxing clinic and just hit Texeira with his boxing prowess at will.
During the third and fourth rounds, the defending champion looked to secure his title defense in the bag when he comfortably established the disparity in points after going back to his patent ground game.
However, disaster struck in the final five minutes of the grudge match as Prochazka was able to execute a two-move sequence that completed his stunning comeback in the fight.
Wobbling after getting hit by several combinations, Prochazka was gasping for air after Texeira tagged him with another take-down attempt.
After four seconds of staying on the ground, Prochazka perfectly executed a sprawl climb defensive move using the cage of the octagon to counter their positions.
Prochazka was suddenly on Texeira’s top and was quick to hurt him with several ground and pound punches before sealing the fight with a rear-naked choke.
During the co-main event, Valentina Shevchenko defended her UFC women’s flyweight belt while Jhang Weili knocked out Joanna Jedrzejczyk in their women’s strawweight bout.
