5 biggest winners from UFC 275: Glover Teixeira vs. Jiri Prochazka

#2. Weili Zhang – defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk in a UFC strawweight bout

Weili Zhang should be in line for a strawweight title shot after her win over Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Given that Dana White had already promised a shot at UFC strawweight champion Carla Esparza for the victor, whoever came out on top of the clash between Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk was always going to be one of the night’s big winners.

However, after their epic five-round war back in 2020, few fans could’ve seen one of these two women dominating proceedings and coming out with a big knockout.

Incredibly, though, that’s exactly what Zhang did. ‘Magnum’ took the fight to Jedrzejczyk from the off, taking her down in the first round and landing plenty of heavy strikes. In the second round, she was able to catch her coming in with a spinning backfist, knocking her silly.

Given the stakes, the quality of her opponent, and what’d happened in their previous fight, this was probably the best performance of Zhang’s UFC career, and the finish alone should make her into an even bigger star than she was before.

So can ‘Magnum’ regain the title she lost to Rose Namajunas? Based on this showing, it seems highly likely, particularly as she appears to match up well with Esparza. There can be no denying, then, that the Chinese star was one of last night’s biggest winners.

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#1. Jiri Prochazka – defeated Glover Teixeira for the UFC light heavyweight title

Jiri Prochazka captured UFC gold in a wild fight against Glover Teixeira

Naturally, the biggest winner at last night’s event was definitely Jiri Prochazka. Not only did the Czech native put on an all-time classic war in the night’s headliner, but he also managed to choke out Glover Teixeira, making him the new UFC light heavyweight champion.

Unlike his first two octagon wins, this one did not come easily for ‘Denisa’. Teixeira survived a number of onslaughts on the feet, and was able to take Prochazka down on numerous occasions across five rounds, battering him with strikes on the mat.

Worse for the challenger, in the second round, Teixeira split him open with a brutal elbow, causing blood to spray from his forehead in a truly gory scene.

Prochazka was undeterred, though, and kept on coming forward with aggression, and as the fight tipped into the championship rounds, while Teixeira was still pushing the pace, the Czech looked like the fresher man.

Sure enough, with less than a minute to go in the fifth round, Prochazka kept on coming, and somehow managed to lock up a no-hooks rear-naked choke – forcing Teixeira to tap out.

Who should be next for the new champion? After a war like this, he probably needs a long and lengthy rest, perhaps until early 2023. Overall though, this might’ve been 2022’s best fight, and whether anyone can topple ‘Denisa’ based on his showing here is a big question mark.

There’s no disputing, then, that he was the biggest winner at last night’s event.