Glover Teixeira unloaded a huge right hand to blast Jiri Prochazka early in the fifth round and it looked like a few more shots would have kept the light heavyweight title around his waist to end a classic fight at UFC 275.
However, Teixeira immediately went for a guillotine instead of a striking finish and Prochazka escaped the attempt easily. Although Teixeira would rock him a few more times in the final round, Prochazka would use enough ground work to wind up cinching in a rear-naked choke to submit the Brazilian with 28 seconds left and become the new light heavyweight champion of the world.
"Like I said before the fight, I'm ready to end it first or fifth round — it doesn't matter," Prochazka told Daniel Cormier on the pay-per-view live from Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore on Sunday. "And it doesn't matter which technique."
He added: "I f—ed up my left hand. I think there's something wrong with it. That choke ... it came naturally."
It was an unlikely finish for Prochazka, whose striking was anticipated as a key to lead him to victory.
Instead, Teixeira's costly guillotine attempt when he had Prochazka badly hurt enabled the Czech fighter to buy enough time to secure the submission.
It was revealed after the bout, which left both fighters bloodied, that Teixeira was up 39-37 on the scorecards entering the fifth round, having won the first, second and fourth rounds. That means he was only 28 seconds away from retaining the title had he not tapped out.
At 42, Teixeira vowed to continue to fight despite the loss.
That announcement came after an all-out war that had both men a bloody mess by the third round courtesy of hellacious elbows from Teixeira and stinging striking from Prochazka in a thriller that won't be forgotten any time soon.
The decisive sequence came when Prochazka kicked off the fence to wriggle free from Teixeira's hold position. Prochazka took the side and worked his way to cinching in a rear-naked choke, which Teixeira tapped to, crowning the new champ.
Co-main event: Valentina Shevchenko ekes out split decision over Taila Santos to retain UFC flyweight title
Taila Santos gave Valentina Shevchenko the biggest scare that she's ever had at flyweight.
However, Shevchenko pieced together key championship rounds to help influence judges who scored it 48-47 and 49-46 in her favor for the split-decision win to retain her flyweight championship. One judge gave the nod to Santos, 48-47.
Santos was arguably up three rounds to zero with the help of a takedown in the first and third frames, where she also cinched in a body triangle. However, midway through the third, the fighters butted heads with Santos getting the worse of the clash and her right eye swelling shut.
With limited visibility, Shevchenko dragged the bout back to the center of the Octagon during the fourth, peppering the Brazilian with stinging striking shots. Still, Santos snuck in a late takedown in the round, paving the way for the final five minutes. There, Shevchenko picked Santos apart for some early strikes before scoring a big takedown and gaining valuable control time en route to the close, hard-fought victory that tested the dominant champion.
Zhang Weili sleeps Joanna Jedrzejczyk with walkoff spinning backfist
For five minutes, it looked like Weili and Jedrzejczyk were destined for another frenzied classic.
Then, about midway through the second round, Jedrzejczyk went for a left-right combination that Weili met with a nasty spinning backfist.
The shot immediately slept Jedrzejczyk and was recognized as an instant Knockout of the Year contender.