UFC 295 Clash: Prochazka Vs. Pereira!

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight hitters Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira will clash TONIGHT (Sat., Nov. 11, 2023) at UFC 295 inside Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.

If you love MMA, you should love this fight.

Prochazka is a perfectly imperfect fighter. He’s a man who understands his strengths and believes that if he fully commits to them, they can overcome his weaknesses. Given his ridiculous win streak that’s chockfull of knockouts and a UFC title, “BJP” is clearly accurate in his estimations.

Pereira is also a man with clear weaknesses, a relative inexperience on the floor that pops up every so often. Yet like his opponent, Pereira also understands that those flaws can be overcome with a bit of patience, and that once he’s granted a small opening on the feet, nothing else matters aside from the power in his left hook.

Let’s take a closer look at the keys to victory for each man:

Jiri Prochazka

Record: 29-3-1
Key Wins: Glover Teixeira (UFC 275), Dominick Reyes (UFC Vegas 25), Volkan Oezdemir (UFC 251), Vadim Nemkov (Rizin World Grand Prix 2015), CB Dollaway (Rizin 20), Muhammad Lawal (Rizin 15)
Key Losses: Muhammad Lawal (Rizin World Grand Prix 2015)|
Keys to Victory: Prochazka is the leader of a rising tide of deceptively smart athletes who thrive in chaos. He has incredible physical gifts — natural power, a rock solid chin, and an excellent gas tank — and doesn’t make use of them in the traditional manner. Instead, he forces his foes (and himself) into uncomfortable situations, trusting that his physicality and creativity will win the game.

Take a look at his record again. It’s working!

This is, of course, a dangerous strategy against one of the heaviest hitters in MMA. That doesn’t mean Prochazka should abandon his usual style, but a couple small adjustments can be made. For example, Prochazka likes to hand fight a lot from distance. In this fight, that could be really helpful if it controls Pereira’s lead hand or it could be dangerous if he misses and leaves his chin exposed to the left hook.

Generally, I’d like to see more Southpaw work from Prochazka in this fight. While fighting leftie, his calf is less available to be kicked, which is a major point of concern in this match up. In general, I’d like to see Prochazka looking to tackle Pereira off his feet when the Brazilian kicks, as that could be a fairly simple way to limit Pereira’s offensive options.

Alex Pereira

Record: 8-2
Key Wins: Israel Adesanya (UFC 281), Jan Blachowicz (UFC 291), Sean Strickland (UFC 276), Bruno Silva (UFC Vegas 50), Andres Michalidis (UFC 268)
Key Losses: Israel Adesanya (UFC 287)
Keys to Victory: Pereira is one of the best in the business at shutting off the lights. He has tremendous power in both hands, as well as a number of tricky setups that allow him to build attritional damage.

The calf kick could be such a huge weapon here. Prochazka stands heavy on his front leg, which leaves him in perfect position to be swept off his feet with a well-timed calf kick. It only takes a handful to really limit a fighter, and Prochazka without his speed would be a rather ineffective fighter.

In general, I’d like to see powerful round kicks from Pereira. As Prochazka switches stances, blasting the open side with a kick can really interrupt his movement. He has to be careful not to get countered or taken down, but again, slowing Prochazka down is a priority.

Both men can fight off the front and back foot well enough, but I think Pereira needs to make it a point to press Prochazka occasionally. “The Czech Samurai” depends on movement for defense, but if trapped on the fence, his low hand position while become a much great liability.

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Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Bottom Line

This is such an incredible title fight.

Remember, Prochazka never lost his 205-pound crown. He voluntarily gave up the belt after his shoulder injury, but this still feels almost like a first title defense for him. Either way, it’s an opportunity to remind the fighting world why he’s won so many fights and how he came to stand atop the Light Heavyweight ladder: chaos and blood!

As for Pereira, his incredible and fairly instantaneous success inside the Octagon have already secured his place as a dual sport legend between MMA and kickboxing. Capturing another title puts him in even further rarified air, definitive proof that “Poatan” is simply an incredible talent with an unusual gift for hitting people really, really hard.

At UFC 295, Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira will go to war in the main event. Who leaves the cage as champion?

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 295 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

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