Jiri Prochazka has become the UFC’s new light heavyweight champion after a stunning win over Glover Teixeira in the main event of UFC 275 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Sunday morning.
In an instant classic, Prochazka claimed victory via a surprising method – a rear-naked choke – deep into the fifth round. The Czech generally enjoyed superiority in terms of striking, but Teixeira was dominant in grappling and looked to be ahead on the score cards until a mistake just over four minutes into the final round.
The Brazilian allowed Prochazka to take his back and sink in the choke hold, with the champion forced to tap with less than 30 seconds of the match remaining.
“I never thought... that’s why it’s good to not be thinking, you are in the middle of the fight,” said Prochazka in his post-fight interview.
“Next time I will be better,” he added, explaining that the method of victory was not a surprise.
“I’m ready to end it [in the] first or fifth round, it doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t matter which technique.”
Teixeira, who was a popular champion at the age of 42, has promised that this is not the end of his career.
“I gave my all out there, no excuses,” he said, adding: “His body shots took my gas away, I was gassed out to be honest. [But] I’m going to keep going.”
The co-main event was a close battle between Valentina Shevchenko and Taila Santos for the women’s flyweight championship, with the former claiming a split decision win to defend her title for a seventh time and rack up a ninth successive victory.
Shevchenko relied on her experience and striking, but Santos had the champion in trouble several times with her superior grappling and wrestling skills.
“I did everything I left my heart in this Octagon,” said Shevchenko, who went on to add: “Bantamweight, flyweight, I’m here, bring it on.”
As for Santos, she promised that this won’t be her only title match: “I’m still young, I can’t complain about decisions, but this won’t be the last time you see me fight for a belt.”
The card opened with welterweight wins for Jack Della Maddalena and Jake Matthews over Ramazan Emeev and Andre Fialho respectively, before Zhang Weili defeated long-time rival Joanna Jedrzejczyk in a women’s strawweight clash, ending the match with a brilliant spinning back fist to land a second-round knockout.
The next UFC event is a Fight Night at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas on the morning of Sunday 19 June, headlined by a featherweight match between Calvin Kattar and Josh Emmett.
UFC 275 – Main card results
- Main event: Light heavyweight championship: Jiri Prochazka def. Glover Teixeira via submission (rear-naked choke), R5, 4:32
- Co-main: Women’s flyweight championship: Valentina Shevchenko def. Taila Santos via split decision (48-47 47-48 49-46), R5, 5:00
- Women’s strawweight: Zhang Weili def. Joanna Jedrzejczyk via KO (spinning back fist), R2, 2:28
- Welterweight: Jake Matthews def. Andre Fialho via KO (punches), R2, 2:24
- Welterweight: Jack Della Maddalena def. Ramazan Emeev via TKO (punches), R1, 2:32