The next big thing of the UFC light heavyweight division has arrived. Jiri Prochazka secured a violent finish over Dominick Reyes in the main event of UFC Vegas 25. With this win, he has now two wins in UFC over two former title contenders.
His first win against Volkan Oezdemir was very impressive. However, the win against Dominick Reyes makes him a legit threat to the UFC light heavyweight champion, Jan Blachowicz.
Dominick Reyes arguably beat the greatest light heavyweight of all time, Jon Jones. And since that fight, Dominick Reyes has lost to both Jan Blachowicz and Jiri Prochazka. And most of the fans would agree that Jan Blachowicz and Jiri Prochazka are two of the best light heavyweights in the world right now.
After Prochazka’s performance, it’s hard not to imagine how a fight between him and Balchowicz would play out? Can Prochazka stop the unstoppable force who has beaten opponents such as Israel Adesanya, Jacare Souza, Corey Anderson, and so on?
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Jan Blachowicz vs Jiri Prochazka breakdown
Jiri Prochazka is a complete package. He is a phenomenal striker with scary knock-out power. He is unorthodox with his approach and the angles that he can create are very hard to deal with. Besides that, he is a solid grappler even though he has not showcased that aspect of his skillsets in UFC yet.
Prochazka has had over 30 pro fights so far and no one has been able to out grapple him on the ground. What’s more impressive is his win against the Bellator champion, Vadim Nemkov. Prochazka dominated the current Bellator light heavyweight champion both in striking and grappling back in 2015. So he has definitely faced some tough opponents in his career.
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But, has he ever faced anyone as good as Jan Blachowicz? To understand how good Blachowicz is we must look at his last fight against Israel Adesanya. Jan Blachowicz won a striking battle against Israel Adesanya, who is considered to be the best striker in UFC right now, in the first three rounds.
Jan Blachowicz’s defense seemed rock solid against Adesanya and he was out landing Adesanya in most of the rounds. But, Prochazka brings a unique fighting style to the octagon that is chaotic and violent. It won’t be surprising to see Prochazka overwhelm Blachowicz early in the fight.
But, Prochazka gets hit a lot. He was rocked against Oezdemir and he got caught by some clean shots by Dominick Reyes as well. And if Jan Balchowicz lands some clean shots on any light heavyweight he might be walking out of the octagon with a victory.
Blachowicz’s striking is very underrated despite his win over Adesanya. And it won’t be shocking if he becomes the underdog when he fights Jiri Prochazka as well. However, Balchowicz has made a career out of defying the odds and he might do the same against Prochazka. As good as Prochazka is right now there is a hole in his striking defense and someone as good as Balchowicz can capitalize on that inside the octagon.