Jirí Procházka knocks out Dominick Reyes with spinning elbow
Jirí Procházka has made a big impression on North American audiences since moving to the UFC after ruling over the light heavyweights at Rizin.
His stock rose even higher on Saturday night after he decimated Dominick Reyes in spectacular style to cement his spot as a UFC light heavyweight title contender.
Procházka fought aggressively from the outset and looked like he hurt Reyes on a couple of occasions with his punching flurries.
Reyes appeared to be nursing a broken nose going into that second round and Procházka targeted it with his jab and the power punches that come behind it.
However, the American hurt Procházka with a big left hand in that middle stanza, forcing him to dive for a takedown. Reyes countered that with a tight-looking guillotine choke, but Procházka was able to escape.
Grounded, Procházka tried to mount an attack while in top position after that failed submission attempt. Reyes managed to get the fight back to the feet but that spelled the end for “The Devastator”.
With his back to the cage, Reyes was forced to block a series of elbows being thrown his way. He brought his arms back down to land a counter after blocking an elbow, only for Procházka to follow up with a spinning left elbow.
Reyes was instantly rendered unconscious and landed face down, handing Procházka only the third spinning back elbow KO in UFC history.
Procházka extended his winning streak to 12, while Reyes falls to 0-3 in his last three contests.
Giga Chikadze lands “Giga kick” to earn TKO win over Cub Swanson
Giga Chikadze is fast building a reputation as a fearsome UFC featherweight and that can only be strengthened by his TKO victory over WEC and UFC veteran Cub Swanson.
Just a minute into the first round of their contest, the former Glory kickboxer landed a sweet liver kick – what he calls his “Giga kick” – that folded Swanson like a deck chair.
Swanson’s body shut down after that shot and was unable to resist any of Chikadze’s follow-up punches on the ground before referee Jason Herzog called a stop to the contest.
With that, Chikadze extended his UFC winning streak to six as he moves his way up the 145-pound pecking order.
UFC on ESPN 23: Reyes vs. Procházka
Light Heavyweight: Ji?í Procházka def. Dominick Reyes by KO (spinning back elbow) at 4:29 of round two
Featherweight: Giga Chikadze def. Cub Swanson by TKO (body kick and punches) at 1:03 of round one
Light Heavyweight: Ion Cu?elaba and Dustin Jacoby fought to a split draw after three rounds
Middleweight: Sean Strickland def. Krzysztof Jotko by unanimous decision after three rounds
Bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili def. Cody Stamann by unanimous decision after three rounds
Women’s Strawweight: Luana Pinheiro def. Randa Markos by DQ (illegal upkick) at 4:16 of round one
Featherweight: T.J. Brown def. Kai Kamaka III by split decision after three rounds
Catchweight: Luana Carolina def. Poliana Botelho by split decision after three rounds
Women’s Strawweight: Loma Lookboonmee def. Sam Hughes by unanimous decision after three rounds
Middleweight: Andreas Michailidis def. KB Bhullar by unanimous decision after three rounds
Featherweight: Felipe Colares def. Luke Sanders by unanimous decision after three rounds
