The UFC president definitely wasn’t expecting Prochazka to submit light heavyweight champion Teixeira with less than 30 seconds to go in their title fight.
UFC president Dana White didn’t make the 14 hour flight to Kallang, Singapore for UFC 275, but he did end up catching the main event live. White live-streamed his reaction to the back and forth war on Instagram as it unfolded, culminating with Jiri Prochazka catching Glover Teixeira with a literal last minute rear-naked choke to win the light heavyweight title (watch the finish here).
To say White was impressed would be underselling it. A hyped up White was out of his seat and yelling as the 29-year old “Czech Samurai” Prochazka forced “Old Man Glover” to tap.
“He’s chokin’ him! He tapped! No way! No f—kin’ way,” White exclaimed. “Jiri tapped him out! No way. No way. What a f—kin’ fight. What an absolute f—king war, man. S—t, my phone is f—kin’ blowing up.”
Dana’s reaction to Jiri’s victory over Glover was all of us #UFC275
(via @danawhite, h/t @Benfthomas_10) pic.twitter.com/W7jIzkIvOd
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 12, 2022
Jiri Prochazka’s win at 4:31 of the fifth round was impressive because it came with Glover Teixeira ahead on the scorecards. If the tough Brazilian veteran had managed to hold on for just 29 more seconds, he would have retained the title. Teixeira is also a legit second degree black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu. While a submission following a near knockout was always possible, few thought Prochazka would be able to snatch up a choke and make Glover tap like he did.
The win elevates Prochazka to 29-3-1 in MMA and 3-0 in the UFC. It wasn’t the cleanest win for Jiri, but his willingness to keep fighting hard and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat certainly earned him a lot of fans following the fight. For now, Prochazka plans on taking a rest and a vacation on the ocean. Before the end of the year, he intends on coming back and defending his belt.
“It doesn’t matter if it will be Glover or Jan, it doesn’t matter,” he said during the UFC 275 post-fight press conference. “For me it doesn’t matter. For the next fight, I swear I will be another fighter — not like that. That was not good performance from me.”
Unsurprisingly, all the light heavyweight contenders are falling over themselves trying to earn the next shot at the champ.
I need to handle Smith you cannot make this many mistakes when you fight with me
— Magomed Ankalaev (@AnkalaevM) June 12, 2022
Jiri, let’s do this! The Battle for Europe. The biggest fight in the Continent’s history. @jiri_bjp @ufc @UFCEurope #UFC275
— Jan Blachowicz (@JanBlachowicz) June 12, 2022
And there you have it the story keeps writing itself!!! Congrats Champ don’t get too comfortable!!!#Imcoming #andnew #UFC275
— Jamahal Hill (@JamahalH) June 12, 2022
Please wait for your turn https://t.co/4geQCHxLEp
— Magomed Ankalaev (@AnkalaevM) June 12, 2022
Even Glover Teixeira got in on the action, calling for an immediate rematch.
Rematch?? @jiri_bjp @danawhite @ufc
— glover teixeira (@gloverteixeira) June 12, 2022
Not to take away from what happened at UFC 275. On Instagram, Teixeira wrote “Thank you for amazing fight. Today was your day…enjoy it.”
Who do you want to see face off against new light heavyweight champ Jiri Prochazka, Maniacs?