MMA Weekly
UFC Vegas 25 results: Jiri Prochazka knocks out Dominick Reyes to earn title shot
The UFC Vegas 25 results were littered with decision after decision, but the fight card finished strong with two blistering finishes in the main and co-main events. Jiri Prochazka knocks out Dominick Reyes to earn title shot Dominick Reyes rocked Jiri Prochazka and the Czech fighter returned the favor, all inside of the first two minutes of the UFC Vegas 25 main event. Reyes recovered and took Prochazka to the canvas. It didn’t take Prochazka long to return the fight to the feet, where he unloaded on Reyes, hurting the former title contender. Reyes wasn’t done, though, landing several combinations in the final moments of the round. Prochazka ate the shots and kept combing forward, bloodying Reyes’s nose. The American answered with several more punches, but Prochazka seemed to take the shots better than Reyes and again answered with a blistering combination that shook Reyes before the round ended. Reyes started round two strong, unleashing with punch combinations and kicking Prochazka to the canvas. But the Czech kept pressing forward, showing little effect from the shots, as he kept throwing punches and kicks of his own. Reyes rocked him and Prochazka changed levels, looking for a takedown, instead getting caught in a guillotine choke. Reyes fell to his back, but couldn’t finish the choke. Prochazka escaped and got up, Reyes dropped him with an upkick. Somehow surviving the brutal upkick, Prochazka again returned the fight to the feet. A few moments later, Prochazka backed Reyes up to the fence, unleashing a right elbow followed by a left spinning back elbow that dropped Reyes face down on the canvas. A former Rizin FF light heavyweight champion and just two fights into his UFC tenure, Prochazka is now expected to get a shot at the winner of the UFC light heavyweight championship bout between Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira, which is scheduled for Sept. 4 at UFC 266. Faced with the fact that UFC president Dana White said he would get the title shot, Prochazka said simply, “Oh, okay. Yeah, I’m ready. Let’s do that.” “Before the UFC, all my fights were just teaching me and my team to get better and better to step into the UFC and take a title.” UFC Vegas 25 results: Jiri Prochazka knocks out Dominick Reyes with spinning elbow Giga Chikadze finishes Cub Swanson with the Giga Kick The UFC Vegas 25 co-main event started with a lot of promise, but ended quickly with a brutal kick to the liver. Giga Chikadze and Cub Swanson exchanged several hard punches in the opening moments of the bout. Just as the fight started to flow, Chikadze unleashed his patented liver kick (aka the Giga Kick). The effects were immediately written across Swanson’s tormented face as he fell to his knees. Chikadze hesitated, briefly thinking the referee might stop the fight. When the referee waited, Chikadze swarmed Swanson and landed a few punches that forced an end to the bout at 1:03 of round one. “I had to tell all of the guys in the Top 15 that I’m here. If you didn’t know my name, now you know,” Chikadze said after the fight. “I had to bring the fire.” After the victory, Chikadze respectfully called out former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway. “Max Holloway, it would be an honor to fight you because you are one of the best and I really want to fight you.” UFC Vegas 25 results: Giga Chikadze stops Cub Swanson in co-main event https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1388703295942823936 Ion Cutelaba and Dustin Jacoby ends in disappointing split draw Ion Cutelaba put his fight with Dustin Jacoby at risk at Friday’s weigh-in, grabbing Jacoby around the neck during their face-off. Luckily there wasn’t a repeat of the Jeremy Stephens vs. Drakkar Klose cancellation and the Cutelabla vs. Jacoby bout took place as planned. It was a toe-to-toe battle, but the end result left something to be desired. Jacoby started strong, looking much sharper on the feet, but Cutelaba eventually took him down. Jacoby got back to his feet fairly quickly every time, but Cutelaba took him down repeatedly throughout the round, landing punches or elbows after nearly every takedown. Cutelaba went back to the takedown in round two. It worked well for the first couple minutes, but Jacoby began stuffing them and keeping Cutelaba at bay with his jab and occasionally landing with his uppercut and right cross. Jacoby staggered Cutelaba with a right hand in the waning seconds of round two, but couldn’t put him down. Jacoby started the final round with a hard kick to the body. Cutelaba kept swinging, but looked like he’d lost a step or two since the first round. Not as worried about the takedown as he was in round one, Jacoby was swinging with more power punches in the final frame. Cutelaba dug deep and kept firing back. Jacoby just missed with a huge flying knee and then went for a takedown of his own. Cutelaba stuffed it. Jacoby got the takedown on his next attempt, but it came with about 10 seconds left in the fight. When the scorecards were read, one judge saw it in favor of Jacoby, another in favor of Cutelaba, and the final judge ruled it a draw for an overall result of a split draw. UFC Vegas 25 results: Ion Cutelaba vs Dustin Jacoby ruled a split draw (Photos courtesy of UFC) Manager says Kamaru Usman wants Michael Chiesa next at UFC 263 UFC Vegas 25 Live Results UFC Vegas 25 Main Card Main Event: Jiri Prochazka def Dominick Reyes by KO (elbows) at 4:29, R2Co-main Event: Giga Chikadze vs Cub Swanson by TKO (body kick and punches) at 1:03, R1Ion Cutelaba vs Dustin Jacoby ruled a split draw (29-28, 28-29, 28-28)Sean Strickland def Krzysztof Jotko by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)Merab Dvalishvili def Cody Stamann by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) UFC Vegas 25 Prelims Luana Pinheiro def Randa Markos by disqualification (illegal upkick) at 4:16, R1TJ Brown def Kai Kamaka III by split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)Luana Carolina def Poliana Botelho by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)Loma Lookboonmee def Sam Hughes by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)Andreas Michailidis def KB Bhullar by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)Filipe Colares def Luke Sanders by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-38, 29-28)
