Teixeira, Prochazka make weight for UFC title tilt
Light heavyweight champ Glover Teixeira and challenger Jiri Prochazka both make weight for Saturday’s co-main event at UFC 275 in Singapore,…
The main event of the UFC’s first pay-per-view card in southeast Asia is official.
Glover Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka both weighed in successfully Friday for their light heavyweight title fight, each coming in at 205 pounds. Teixeira will defend his belt against Prochazka in the UFC 275 headliner Saturday in Singapore.
ESPN has Teixeira ranked as the No. 8 pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world. At light heavyweight, Teixeira is ranked No. 1 and Prochazka is No. 4.
Teixeira (33-7) beat Jan Blachowicz to win the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 267 this past October. The Brazil native became the oldest first-time champion in UFC history with the victory. Teixeira, 42, has won six straight and first challenged for the title, a loss to Jon Jones, back in 2014.
Prochazka (28-3-1) has won 12 straight, including 10 in a row via KO/TKO. The Czech Republic native is coming off a second-round spinning back elbow knockout of Dominick Reyes in May 2021. Prochazka, 29, is the former light heavyweight champion of Japan’s Rizin Fighting Federation promotion.
Both UFC 275 co-main event fighters also made weight successfully Friday. Valentina Shevchenko (124.5 pounds) will defend her UFC women’s flyweight title against Taila Santos (125 pounds) on Saturday.
Shevchenko (22-3) is ESPN’s No. 1 pound-for-pound women’s MMA fighter. The 34-year-old Kyrgyzstan native has won eight straight and is looking for her seventh title defense. Santos (19-1), a 28-year-old Brazilian, has won four in a row.
In another key fight on the card, former women’s strawweight champions Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk successfully made weight with both coming in at 116 pounds.
The pay-per-view also lost a fight on Friday, as Rogerio Bontorin was pulled because of medical reasons. His fight against Manel Kape was canceled.
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