The light heavyweight division needs more challengers for champion Jan Blachowicz.
One was gained on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas in the UFC Fight Night headliner, as Jiri Prochazka delivered one of the most vicious knockouts of 2021, as he sent Dominick Reyes packing at the point of impact at 4:29 of the second round courtesy of a spinning back elbow.
"I just was in the flow and after that, maybe the spinning elbow, yeah, let's try it," Prochazka said in his post-fight interview.
Reyes came out as the aggressor, throwing a couple of jabs and a hard body kick. Prochazka let Reyes know he wouldn't run him over and fired off a three-punch combination of his own. Reyes connected with a left hand, but Prochazka walked right through it and wobbled Reyes with a right hand. Reyes scored his first takedown of the fight, but Prochazka made it right back to his feet and strung together a series of lightning quick and unorthodox punches and kicks.
The second round started like the first with Reyes throwing combos. But the shots didn't faze Prochazka whatsoever. He continued to charge forward. Prochazka threw an elbow which wobbled the former two-time light heavyweight title challenger. Reyes shook it off and stunned Prochazka with a left hand of his own. Realizing he needed to change the complexion of the fight in a hurry, he snatched Prochazka's head for a guillotine choke. Prochazka slipped his head out and made it up to his feet.
Prochazka kept the relentless pressure in the final minute of the round. Prochazka got Reyes against the cage and connected on a sharp standing elbow. He immediately followed up with a spinning back elbow which saw Reyes’ face graze the Octagon, and then fell face-first to the mat for only the third spinning elbow KO in UFC history.
With Blachowicz taking on Glover Teixeira next, the winner is going to need a fresh opponent. Enter Prochazka (28-3-1), who now possesses a 12-fight winning streak with 11 of those wins by knockout.
“Yeah … OK … let’s do that,” Prochazka of a possible title shot. “That’s a big honor for me.”
Giga Chikadze smokes Cub Swanson in 63 seconds
Chikadze needed a notable win on his resume to cement himself as threat in the featherweight division. He got just that in beating perennial contender Cub Swanson via TKO at the 1:03 mark of the first round in the UFC Fight Night co-main event.
Chikadze snapped his hips to deliver a thudding body kick which sent Swanson crumbling to the canvas. Sensing that Swanson was done for, Chikadze went for the finish and delivered a series of punches to secure the biggest victory of his career.
UFC Fight Night: Reyes vs. Prochazka results
Main card
- Jiri Prochazka def. Dominick Reyes via knockout at 4:29 of the second round
- Giga Chikadze def. Cub Swanson via TKO at 1:03 of the first round
- IIon Cutelaba and Dustin Jacoby ends in a split draw (29-28, 28-29, 28-28)
- Sean Strickland def. Krzysztof Jotko via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Merab Dvalishvili def. Cody Stamann via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Preliminary card
- Luana Pinheiro def. Randa Markos via disqualification at 4:16 of the first round
- T.J. Brown def. Kai Kamaka via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
- Luana Carolina def. Poliana Botelho via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
- Loma Lookboonmee def. Sam Hughes via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Andreas Michailidis def. KB Bhullar via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Felipe Colares def. Luke Sanders via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)