This breakdown may just be me being a crotchety old man, but I don't love this fight. The reason i don't love this fight is because we already saw it and it was a pretty clear outcome. i also don't love it because i think Jiri might win. Jiri felt the power, was in there with Alex already and might turn into a wrestler. He has takedowns in 3 of his 5 ufc fights including against Rakic at UFC 300. I know taking Alex down is not easy and even if he does, it may not matter. My point here isn't that I think Jiri wins by wrestling. But it is that i think Jiri can win and may do so by boring cage control and avoiding an actual fight. Alex was 22lbs overweight last week and accepted this fight while hamming it up on the other side of the world. Alex will be the pick because he has already won this fight, but I wish we got ot see Alex vs someone new at heavyweight, I want Alex to go down as the greatest fighter of all time and the only 3 division champion ever.
Alex Pereira
Alex Pereira has only been in the UFC for 3 years and is already a 2 division champion and of their biggest stars. He is a world class kickboxer that dominated that world before moving into this one. You may assume wrestling is the path to victory, which it is, but he has solid takedown defense and fantastic jiu jitsu defense as well. He has fight ending power and a willingness to trade. He is coming off the UFC 300 win where he stepped in to save that card as well.
Jiri Prochazka
Jiri Prochazka is the former Light Heavyweight champion of the world and is an actual crazy person. He is incredibly fun to watch fight and always brings the fight. He is a dangerous striker with pretty much all of his 29 wins coming by stoppage. He has plenty of cardio, plenty of power, and up until his last fight, plenty of chin. The knock on Jiri is how hittable he is. He is hit with more than 5 significant strikes per minute which is an insanely high number. He trusts his chin so he has no issues standing in the pocked and taking one to give one. That did however fail him in his last fight against Alex Pereira where he was stopped in the second round, albeit controversially.
