Chael Sonnen was very impressed with the light heavyweight championship bout between newly-crowned champion Jiri Prochazka and former titleholder Glover Teixeira.
During a recent episode of Beyond the Fight on his YouTube channel, 'The American Gangster' labeled the UFC 275 headliner as the new best light heavyweight title fight of all time. The MMA analyst opined that the fight surpassed the first meeting between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson, which took place at UFC 165 in 2013. Sonnen said:
"I can't turn on [Jiri] Prochazka. Prochazka just gave us the greatest light heavyweight fight of all time. It replaced [Alexander] Gustafsson and Jon Jones. In my mind, that was the greatest, part one, light heavyweight fight I've ever seen."
Watch Sonnen discuss Glover Teixeira vs. Jiri Prochazka below:
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Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira were involved in an absolute barnburner at UFC 275 in Kallang, Singapore. The pair displayed a beautiful mix of striking and grappling throughout their five-round battle. Despite being down on the scorecards, Prochazka managed to pull off a win by sinking in a rear-naked choke towards the end of the final round.
Chael Sonnen on why he questioned Jiri Prochazka's desire for Glover Teixeira rematch
After capturing the 205-pound title from Glover Teixeira, Jiri Prochazka expressed interest in facing Jan Blachowicz in his first title defense. However, the Czech-born champion later changed his mind and decided to run it back with Teixeira as he called out the Brazilian in a new video uploaded to his social media.
During the same episode of Beyond the Fight, Chael Sonnen explained why he questioned Prochazka's desire to pursue a rematch with Teixeira.
This was in light of his previous comments where 'The Bad Guy' advised 'Denisa' to take on fresh contenders in the division such as Jan Blachowicz and Anthony Smith. Here's what Sonnen said:
"I can't be against him [Prochazka] saying I'll fight a guy who was only 20 seconds away from beating [me] in the first place. He's not looking for an easy fight. I do have a problem with him promising Jan [a title shot]. And I have a problem with him going after a 42-year-old."
Prochazka (29-3) is currently 3-0 in the promotion. The 29-year-old has won all of his bouts under the UFC banner via stoppage. 'Denisa' is also the first Czech champion in the promotion's history.