Everything you need to know about UFC 275: Teixeira VS Procházka

ACC UFC contributor Felix Heath-Collins with everything you need to know ahead of UFC 275: Teixeira VS Procházka.

I'm back! Covid might've kicked my ass last month, but I'm back just in time for this Sunday's UFC 275 PPV (pay-per-view).

In the main event, the light-heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira looks to defend his title against the human highlight reel that is Jiří Procházka, while the co-main event sees the dominant champion Valentina Shevchenko battle Taila Santos for the women's flyweight belt. And finally, in the featured fight, Zhang Weili and Joanna Jędrzejczyk rematch one of the greatest fights of all time. All in all, MMA fans have plenty to sink their teeth into come lunchtime on Sunday.

Headlining UFC 275 is Glover Teixeira's (33-7) (wins-losses) first defence of his new light-heavyweight belt against the spectacular striker Jiří Procházka (28-3).

Only two days after his 42nd birthday, Brazilian knockout artist Glover Teixeira became the second oldest fighter to win a UFC belt (behind "Captain America" himself, Randy "The Natural" Couture). Teixeira has been a dominant force in the light-heavyweight division of the UFC since his debut in 2012 at UFC 146 - 10 years or 129 PPV events ago. In his extensive UFC tenure, Teixeira has amassed wins against the likes of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Jared "Killa Gorilla" Cannonier via decision; Ovince St. Preux, Ion Cutelaba, Thiago Santos, and (former champion) Jan Błachowicz via submission; plus Ryan "Darth" Bader, "Suga" Rashad Evans, and Anthony "Lionheart" Smith via KO/TKO. With dynamite in his gloves and a Mike Tyson-inspired bob-and-weave style to match, Teixeira might well be the most violent man at light heavyweight. In short, Glover is a Brazilian fight finishing machine who might've just entered his fighting prime at 42 years of age. Incredible.

In the opposite corner, the Czech Republic's Jiří Procházka would love nothing more than to take Teixeira's belt - by force, if necessary. Following an extensive 29-fight run outside of the promotion, Procházka burst onto the UFC scene with ultraviolent KO/TKO finishes against top light heavyweight contenders Volkan "No Time" Oezdemir (via overhand right), and Dominick Reyes (via spinning elbow). A veritable violent spinning top (a Beyblade?!) of strikes, Procházka only needs one spinning kick, back-fist, or elbow to land and any opponent - at any weight - would be separated from their consciousness. Procházka rocketed through the sport at top speed, but will he have enough momentum to claim the ultimate prize: Teixeira's championship belt? Only time will tell.

The co-main event sees arguably the greatest female fighter around, Valentina "Bullet" Shevchenko (22-3) defending her flyweight title against the fresh-faced Taila Santos (19-1).

Kyrgyzstan's greatest (fighting) export, Valentina "Bullet" Shevchenko, has been fighting professionally - whether that be kickboxing or MMA - since 2003. That means she made her debut only a single year after the 42-year old Texeira did. After a dominant career in kickboxing, Shevchenko blasted out of the UFC gate in late 2015, quickly building a record with wins against the likes of Sarah Kaufman, Holly "The Preacher's Daughter" Holm, (current bantamweight champion) Julianna "The Venezuelan Vixen" Peña, Joanna Jędrzejczyk (who Shevchenko had previously beaten in amateur kickboxing), Jessica "Evil" Eye (with a career-best head-kick KO), Liz "Girl-Rilla" Carmouche, Jennifer Maia, Jéssica "Bate Estaca" Andrade, and "Lucky" Lauren Murphy. Shevchenko's only two UFC losses were close decisions against the much larger former double champion Amanda "The Lioness" Nunes. Are there any gaps in the sublimely-balanced MMA skillset of Valentina Shevchenko? Probably not, no. Can she still be beaten by a supreme demonstration of skill or power? Sure, it is MMA after all. And crazier has happened.

Taila Santos only has a five-fight UFC career thus far, but she's sure made her mark on the flyweight division in that time. Her current four-fight win streak has seen her beat top contenders "Meatball" Molly McCann, Gillian "The Savage" Robertson, Roxanne "The Happy Warrior" Modafferi, and Joanna "Jojo" Wood. A title contender with an equal balance of fight finishing power and serpentine submission skills, Taila Santos could be the one to finally dethrone the (seemingly) untouchable champion Shevchenko. Or not. Probably not.

In the featured fight (or the co-co-main event), former strawweight champions Zhang Weili (16-4) and Joanna Jędrzejczyk (21-3) rematch after their all-time great bout back in 2020.

In 2019, Zhang Weili stopped former strawweight champion Jéssica "Bate Estaca" Andrade via KO/TKO to become the first-ever Chinese-born champion in the UFC. Immediately following her title win, Zhang made her first title defence against another former champion, Joanna Jędrzejczyk. In what has since been called the greatest ever female fight, Zhang and Jędrzejczyk battered each other from pillar-to-post, bell-to-bell. By the end of the fight, both women had nearly been finished, and Jędrzejczyk face had swollen to the exact proportions of an alien invader. Thus a fight in which Jędrzejczyk was edged out by Zhang on appearance alone. Back-to-back losses followed for Zhang Weili, first by head-kick KO, and then by split decision, both by fan favourite female fighter "Thug" Rose Namajunas. Thus ended a staggering 21-fight win streak from China's first champion. And now she's back to rematch the hardest, most violent fight of her entire career - significantly harder and more violent than even her losses. Packing a modern and refined style to MMA that blends ALL of MMA, Zhang Weili (much like Valentina Shevchenko), expertly balances striking, wrestling, and grappling into a recipe even the great GSP (Georges "Rush" St-Piere) would be proud of.

Standing in Zhang's way is Poland's favourite villain, Joanna Jędrzejczyk (phonetically: yen-jey-chik). With a career in the UFC dating back to 2014 when she was just 6-0, Jędrzejczyk surged through the sport's strawweight division, beating Juliana Lima and Cláudia Gadelha via decision, before demolishing then-champion Carla "The Cookie Monster" Esparza, and defending her new belt against Jessica Penne, both by KO/TKO punches. Four more decision wins followed, making Jędrzejczyk an undefeated champion with five defences under her belt. She was unstoppable. That is until she met "Thug" Rose. In that classic fight, "Thug" Rose Namajunas defeated the dragon when she KO'd the unbeaten champion Jędrzejczyk. An immediate rematch saw Jędrzejczyk lose again to her rival Rose, this time via unanimous decision. Following those setbacks on the highest stage, Jędrzejczyk see-sawed between winning and losing. She beat Tecia "The Tiny Tornado" Torres, lost to Valentina "Bullet" Shevchenko for the vacant strawweight championship, beat Michelle "The Karate Hottie" Waterson, and, finally, lost to Zhang Weili in the aforementioned all-time classic fight. Now Jędrzejczyk is perfectly positioned to make another run at the title she lost almost four years ago to Valentina Shevchenko. Joanna Jędrzejczyk is the only female Diaz brother. Win, lose, or draw, she's must-see TV every time.

This delicious MMA offering goes down this Sunday for us here in New Zealand, with the main card kicking off at 2:00 PM, with the earliest prelims beginning a few hours earlier at 10:30 AM. Enjoy! It'd be genuinely hard not to.