Jiri Procházka stopped Glover Teixeira by submission with 28 seconds left within the fifth spherical to assert the UFC gentle heavyweight title in a grueling bout at UFC 275 on Sunday.
Procházka survived almost 5 rounds of constant punishment from the 42-year-old Teixeira, who grew to become a first-time UFC champion at 205lbs late final 12 months. After a back-and-forth struggle that left each males minimize and bleeding, the Czech challenger received into place to execute a choke that ended probably the most compelling title bouts in current UFC historical past.
Valentina Shevchenko stored her flyweight title with a slim split-decision victory over Taila Santos at Singapore Indoor Stadium, however the Brazilian challenger possible examined the long-reigning champion greater than any opponent throughout her run of seven consecutive defenses.
Earlier, former strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk introduced her retirement after shedding her rematch with Zhang Weili, who knocked out the Polish veteran within the second spherical with a spinning again fist.
The UFC’s first pay-per-view card from Southeast Asia passed off within the morning in Singapore to succeed in the profitable US viewers on Saturday night time, however the fighters shook off the early begin to produce a extremely entertaining slate of fights.
The primary occasion was a thriller that solely received higher whereas Procházka managed to beat quite a few strategic errors with toughness and expertise. Procházka grew to become the fifteenth undisputed UFC champion of what has lengthy been combined martial arts’ glamour division, with previous champions together with Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell and Jon Jones.
Teixeira (33-8) was up 39-37 on two scorecards heading into the fourth spherical, which suggests the Brazilian champion nearly definitely would have received a choice if he had averted a submission within the closing minute.
“Did I look 42 on the market?” Teixeira requested afterward. “No? Then I’m going to maintain going.”
Each fighters landed massive pictures from the opening spherical, and Teixeira appeared to show the bout in his favor when he harm Procházka within the second spherical, ultimately touchdown an elbow that opened an enormous minimize above Procházka’s left eye. Each fighters have been bleeding from cuts within the third spherical, and Procházka additionally wobbled Teixeira within the center rounds earlier than his dramatic end.
Moments earlier, Shevchenko (23-3) was examined from the opening spherical by Santos, who received 4 straight fights to earn her first UFC title shot. The closest spherical was the second, and Shevchenko got here on robust within the closing two rounds after escaping a choke from Santos (19-2) that would have ended the struggle within the third.
“I left my coronary heart in there,” Shevchenko mentioned. “I've a real championship thoughts, and I’m by no means glad with my efficiency.”
Two judges favored Shevchenko 48-47 and 49-46, whereas the third scored it 48-47 for Santos, whose proper eye was closed by the ultimate bell after an unintended conflict of heads within the third. Shevchenko’s seven straight title defenses are probably the most amongst any energetic champion.
“Sadly, I couldn’t actually see out of my proper eye after it closed,” Santos mentioned. “I noticed two Valentinas. I simply tried to hit within the center.”
Shevchenko, the UFC’s 125lb champion since 2018, has not misplaced to any opponent since 2010 apart from Amanda Nunes. Shevchenko barely managed to keep away from the destiny of Nunes, whose lengthy reign atop the bantamweight division ended final December.
Zhang (22-3) dominated Jedrzejczyk in a rematch of the ex-champions’ extremely entertaining first assembly in March 2020, when Zhang received by break up resolution in a bout that Jedrzejczyk insisted she received. The Chinese language veteran left little doubt the second time, ending the bout with the spectacular spinning strike that ended it.
Afterward, Jedrzejczyk (16-5) cited her want for motherhood and a weariness with coaching as her causes for hanging up her gloves. She held the strawweight title from 2015 to 2017, making a file 5 defenses of the strap earlier than shedding it to Rose Namajunas and later shedding to Shevchenko in a shot on the flyweight title.
“It’s been 20 years,” Jedrzejczyk mentioned. “I’m turning 35 this 12 months. I need to be a mother. I need to be a businesswoman. I’ve been coaching greater than half of my life. I like you guys.”
Zhang is prone to get the subsequent shot at strawweight champion Carla Esparza.
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