How We Got to Teixeira vs Prochazka (Patreon)

By YaboyLex (@imadethistostan)

The UFC's Light Heavyweight division is currently in a state of flux. The consistency with which Jon Jones sat at the top of this division is gone. In its place are hungry contenders looking to assert their dominance. On June 11th, 2022, Jiri Prochazka will challenge Glover Teixeira for the UFC light heavyweight title. Who are these fighters, and how did they get here? How was a field of contenders narrowed down to a bout between a fighter north of 40 and a fighter with less than three fights in the UFC? To find out, we have to spend some time looking at the past couple of years of the light heavyweight division.

In September 2020, Jan Blachowicz defeated Dominick Reyes for the title by vicious knockout after putting on a striking clinic. Many believed Reyes gave Jon Jones his toughest challenge to date. He followed this victory with a super fight against Israel Adesanya, whom he dominated on the ground to win a clear decision. With such a well-rounded pair of victories, it seemed as if Blachowicz was poised to rule the division. Enter Glover Teixeira.

Teixeira is a boxer with an excellent chin, high-level experience, and formidable grappling. It's been five years since his last knockout loss. Since then, he's fought five times: all wins with four finishes. In those fights, Teixeira displayed his experience, craftiness, and grappling skills. He came into the championship fight against Blachowicz, riding his own two-fight win streak over former title challengers Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos. Despite these victories, Teixeira went into the fight a significant underdog. However, Teixeira was knocked down twice in both of his last two fights and was sitting on the wrong side of 40 against the "legendary polish power" of Jan Blachowicz. And yet, somehow, eight minutes and two seconds later, Teixeira had his hand raised to the sound of Bruce Buffer declaring, "And NEW."

Teixeira had done it. He had captured the UFC light heavyweight title. In this championship run, it was indeed Teixeira's grappling and experience that made the difference.

Looking back on his fight against Anthony Smith, what started as a one-sided affair against Teixeira became a one-sided affair FOR Teixeira. After eating punches from Smith through the earlier part of the fight, Teixeira found his timing and battled back, eventually getting the TKO win in violent fashion.

Against Santos, Teixeira was knocked down, but his ring sense led him to drive on his knees to get Santos against the cage before building up to a takedown. Even when Santos managed to get on top, Teixeira capitalized on a singular mistake to sweep Santos and eventually submit the fellow black belt.

Against Blachowicz, Teixeira turned in a championship performance, pressuring Blachowicz with boxing and shooting for takedowns when the fight made its way to the edge of the cage. Once the fight was on the ground, Teixeira stayed active in Blachowicz's guard with strikes to the body and head and even utilizing a can opener submission to open the guard.

In the second round, Blachowicz managed to deny two of Teixeira's takedowns but was rocked by a left hook from Teixeira. Caught against the fence and looking to recover, Blachowicz couldn't defend the third takedown. From there, it was academic: Teixeira scored the takedown into half ​guard, sliced through into mount, Blachowicz gave the back, and Teixeira sunk in the rear-naked choke.

Wherever there is a title, there must be a challenger. Jiri Prochazka has long been considered one of the best light heavyweights outside of a major promotion—with 25 of his 28 wins coming by knockout and only three losses. Many were eager to see what Prochazka would do when tested at the highest level, and so far, he has not disappointed. After flatlining Volkan Oezdemir with an overhand right in 2020, Prochazka was fast-tracked into a title eliminator against Dominick Reyes, who was fresh off his title fight against Blachowicz.

Reyes vs. Prochazka was a back and forth battle between two powerful strikers. The emphatic Prochazka seemed to glide around the ring, moving in and out with full power hooks and uppercuts. Reyes held his own, delivering powerful lefts, and even scoring a takedown. On the ground, Prochazka seemed to be lost technically but used his explosiveness and athleticism to stand back up. Once the fight was back on the feet, Prochazka refused to leave the pocket. Instead, he followed Reyes from one end of the cage to the other, throwing hooks, front kicks, and uppercuts. Reyes tried to battle back by circling Prochazka into the left straight. Prochazka avoided a number of shots but had his chin tested throughout the first round.

In the second round, Prochazka continued his wild assault but was rocked with a counter in the third minute. He shot for an ineffective takedown, and Reyes sat back into a guillotine which Prochazka escaped. After some ground and pound from the top, Prochazka ate a powerful upkick and seemed to be hurt despite maintaining the top position. Eventually, both fighters returned to their feet. In the end, Prochazka followed a conventional elbow with a reverse spinning elbow to Reyes's temple to end the fight at 4:29 of the second round, setting the stage for a clash with Glover Teixeira.

Clash is an appropriate word. Though there are certainly similarities between Prochazka and Teixeira, those similarities highlight the differences. Both finished their last fights—43-year-old Teixeira by hard-earned submission and 30-year-old Prochazka by spectacular and unconventional knockout. Prochazka being the future of the light heavyweight division is as undeniable as Teixeira nearing the end of his career. Is Teixeira's time as champion up? Can he hold off the change in the guard? Is Prochazka skilled enough to capture gold?

This fight will not only be a clash of styles but a clash of generations: striker versus grappler; athleticism versus patience; innovative youth versus tested experience.