UFC 275 Preview
The UFC is invading Kallang, Singapore on Saturday June 10th for UFC 275. The card will feature two title fights with the headliner being for the light heavyweight title between champion Glover Texeira and #2 Jiri Prochazka.
Texeira will be making the first defense of his title after going on one of the most improbable title runs in UFC history. It took seven years and a five-fight winning streak for the 42-year-old to be granted a second shot at winning the light heavyweight title and he shocked the world when he defeated Jan Blachowicz by second round submission at UFC 267 in October.
The Brazilian fighter has put his career into perspective and rejoiced after 20 years of being a pro and winning gold. “I was happy before the belt; I even said that many times,” Teixeira said. “I say that the belt is the cherry on the cake, man. It’s gonna summarize my whole career, my hard work.”
There have been rumors that the champion retires at the end of the year, but Texeira is weighing his options. “I said it was a possibility. I never really said I’m going to retire,” Teixeira said. “It’s not regretting because I never said for sure and it doesn’t matter. What you want now could change,” said Texeira.
He went on to say, “Who knows? After this fight or after the next fight, who knows how long I’m going to fight (or) if I’m going to be fighting until 45 years old like Randy Couture? I’m feeling great. I’m feeling good. I don’t have any major injury, because we all do a little bit, after 20 years in the game, but I don’t know. I’m just living in the moment. Let tomorrow take care of itself.”
Texeira wants a retirement-based decision to be the proper choice for his future. “I don’t want to be like [Henry] Cejudo, that he retired and then wants to fight everybody else now,” Teixeira said. “I’m not talking s—t about him. I can see he wanted to fight. He didn’t want to retire, and me, I tell my wife I’m always going to make this decision at home. No matter what happens in the fight, win or lose, I’m probably never gonna make that decision in the Octagon.
“I’m gonna go home and the day that I don’t feel like I want to train and I want to do this camp and I want to keep going or – because you can feel it. In the training room, you can feel like, ‘Oh man, I’m not like I used to be anymore’ and that could be it, but for now I’m feeling like a champ.”
Texeira has had a storied career and has fought all types of fighters but he will have his hands full on Saturday. The MMA world expects Prochazka to force a standup battle and give Texeira his best chance to win by taking the challenger down and working submission like he did to win the title. For the champion, it will be easier said than done, but he has proven time and time again that he is up to just about any challenge.
Aside from his title claiming victory over Blachowicz, Texeira has key victories in his career over Thiago Santos, Anthony Smith, Nikita Krylov, Jared Cannonier, Rashad Evans, Ovince Saint Preux. Ryan Bader and Rampage Jackson. Texeira is already one of the greatest light heavyweights in UFC history, but a defense of his title will solidify his hall of fame status.
It took only two devastating KO victories in the UFC over former title challengers Volkan Oezdemir and Dominck Reyes for Procházka to be granted a title shot. It is incredibly rare for any fighter to be given a shot at a title in any weight class after just two victories, but the Czech fighter burst onto the championship scene with authority.
The 29-year-old has taken the time to prepare for his biggest challenge yet with Texeira and his wrestling and jiu-jitsu abilities. “That started in the beginning of this year, preparation to be better in wrestling and jiu-jitsu,” Prochazka said. “How to react, to change the nature of my reaction to include wrestling in my standup style. I think that was the hardest thing I had to accept. After some time, I found some keys to help me do that. Now I think I can wrestle with him easily. I can react to his fakes for wrestling and jiu-jitsu.”
Prochazka is confident that he can win the fight in spectacular fashion even if it does go to the ground. “I’m not like other fighters who want to play jiu-jitsu or train jiu-jitsu,” he said. “For me, the ground game is simple: ground-and-pound and find the finish. Nothing else.”
The challenger certainly has stormed onto the scene with crushing victories over two worthy opponents, but Texeira is a true professional who knows how to find ways to win. For Prochazka, it will be interesting to see how he reacts if the fight makes it into the later rounds and becomes a war of attrition.
While the MMA community believes Prochazka is the scariest challenge at light heavyweight, he has been finished before and if anyone can find a way to finish him again it is Texeira.
The co-main event of the night will be for the women’s flyweight title as champion Valentina Shevchenko is looking to defend her title for the seventh time against #4 Taila Santos.
Shevchenko has won eight straight and is coming off a fourth round TKO of Lauren Murphy at UFC 266 in September. The Russian has proven to be the most dominant women’s champion in UFC history. She has separated herself from the rest of the division and continues to pick apart all challengers. Will Saturday be any different?
Every Shevchenko opponent believes they have solved the champions riddle and Santos is no different. However, Valentina does not believe Santos believes it. “I think it’s kind of hypnotizing herself, trying to convince there is something there should be,” Shevchenko said. “Like everyone is not perfect. Definitely not everyone its perfect, but all my opponents, they were saying the same – the same over and over.
The 34-year-old went on to say, “It’s like, ‘No one is unbeatable. She has some holes in her game.’ But once they step inside the octagon, they feel the opposite side. They feel the difference between the fighters and this is the most important. She’s trying to hypnotize herself to convince that there should be, but she’s wrong. It’s not gonna work for her.”
The only fighter in the UFC to hold an advantage over Shevcheko is Amanda Nunes who defeated her twice in close fights at bantamweight. It has been rumored that Shevchenko will eventually make a return to 135 pounds and have a third fight with Nunes. However, this will depend on whether Nunes defeats Julianna Pena to reclaim the bantamweight belt at UFC 277 at the end of July. If Pena defeats Nunes and remains champion, we could see Shevchenko go up and challenge Pena who she has already defeated.
Santos is riding a four-fight winning streak into this fight having most recently defeated Joanne Wood by first round submission winning performance of the night honors. The 28-year-old believes Shevchenko is a great champion but believes she has the keys to victory. “She’s about as close as you can get to the perfect fighter, but nobody is perfect,” Santos said. “There’s always room for improvement for everybody. Doing the tape study, we were able to locate a few things we can work on and that was basically what the strategy has been put around those flaws that we found, and that’s what I’m going to impose.”
A Santos victory would be one of the biggest upsets of 2022 and it is true that every champion’s time eventually comes to an end. But Santos is going to have to have something different to bring into this fight if she stands a chance at equalizing Shevchenko’s skills and becoming the new flyweight champion.
The rest of the main card:
Women's Strawweight - #2 Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jędrzejczyk
Flyweight -#8 Rogério Bontorin vs. #14Manel Kape
Welterweight - Jack Della Maddalena vs. Ramazan Emeev
ESPN Prelims:
Middleweight - Jacob Malkoun vs. Brendan Allen
Featherweight - Seung Woo Choi vs. Joshua Culibao
Lightweight -Steve Garcia vs. Hayisaer Maheshate
Welterweight - Jake Matthews vs. André Fialho
ESPN + Early Prelims:
Bantamweight - Kang Kyung-ho vs. Danaa Batgerel
Women's Strawweight - Liang Na vs. Silvana Gómez Juárez
Women's Featherweight - Ramona Pascual vs. Joselyne Edwards
