Former light-heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka will fight ex-middleweight champ Alex Pereira for the vacant 205lb title in the co-main event of UFC 295 on November 11th at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Prochazka vacated the title back in November of last year after having to withdraw from a rematch with Glover Teixeira due to a serious shoulder injury.
In the end it was Jamahal Hill who then claimed the belt with a unanimous decision win over Teixeira in January of this year, but then he too was forced to relinquish the title due to rupturing his achilles tendon.
Meanwhile, Prochazka was gradually recovering from his own injury, which has paved the way for him to return to action and attempt to reclaim the belt and continue to extend upon his current three-fight winning streak in the promotion, which has seen him earn KO wins over Volkan Oezdemir and Dominick Reyes along with his 5th round submission victory over Texeira.
As for Pereira, he opted to make the move up to 205lbs after back-to-back middleweight title fights against Israel Adesanya, beating him by TKO to win the belt at UFC 287, before being KO’d by his rival in the rematch.
The kickboxing ace then opted to step up a division and earned a split decision victory over former champion Jan Blachowicz in July to propel himself into title contention.
Prochazka vs. Pereira will serve as the co-main event for a blockbuster UFC 295 event that will be headlined by a former long-time light-heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones, who nowadays holds the heavyweight strap and will be seeking to defend it for the first time against Stipe Miocic.
