UFC Vegas 25: Dominick Reyes vs. Jiri Prochazka Recap

This past Saturday, May 1st, the UFC had another eventful night in UFC Vegas 25: Reyes vs. Prochazka. There are many fights to go over, but there were three in particular that stood out to me the most. Read below to get a recap of particular events in UFC Vegas 25. 

Women’s Strawweight: Randa Markos vs. Luana Pinheiro – Preliminary Card

The first fight I want to write about is the women’s strawweight bout in Randa Markos vs. Luana Pinheiro. I write about this because I thought this was an important fight for Markos – she was on a 3-fight losing streak and this would have been her chance to break this tough streak. 

Unfortunately, that streak did not break on Saturday night. Randa Markos (10-11-1) lost via disqualification (illegal upkick) with 4 minutes and 16 seconds in the first round. 

At one point in the fight, Markos suffered an eye poke to the point where the cageside doctor had to come and take a look; she said she was fine and continued to fight. Once the fight began again, Markos came out in a brawl – looking to get some sort of payback towards Pinheiro’s accidental eye poke. Often when attempting to “brawl”, there are times where it can create an opening and make you vulnerable – that’s what happened in this case. 

As a black belt in judo, Pinheiro was able to get Markos on the ground easily; Markos, with her back on the ground, tried to defend by kicking Pinheiro off of herself, but since Pinheiro was technically still down, that upkick was illegal causing the disqualification. 

Now, this is where things get a bit interesting. At one point, you could recall a commentator saying it looks like Pinheiro was acting due to her late reaction. Markos even accused Pinheiro of stealing her fight since the two ladies exchanged words where Markos said she’s leaving with a win. To add even more to that, Markos posted a photo on Instagram about the fight and finished with the hashtag “easywayout”. Luana Pinheiro (9-1-0) did appear to be woozy and out of it, so we will never truly know if it was an act or not. 

Entering the octagon on Saturday night, the UFC Odds were: Luana Pinheiro -170 and Randa Markos +140. This was an emotional fight for Markos, and now with an additional loss to her record, her future in the UFC seems to be unclear. Let’s hope for a quick turnaround for the ‘Quiet Storm’.

Featherweight: Giga Chikadze vs. Cub Swanson – Co-Main Event

In this next fight, Giga Chikadze continued to prove his talents on Saturday night by defeating a veteran in Cub Swanson (27-12-0), taking him into the UFC Featherweight Top 10 (#10). The UFC Odds entering this fight were: Giga Chikadze -170 and Cub Swanson +140. 

When I originally saw the odds for this fight, I was not surprised Chikadze was the favorite. He has been a rising prospect that seems to continue to prove his worth in every fight he appears in. Being a fan of Cub, I was hoping for him to pull off an upset, however, I knew this fight was in Chikadze’s hands…well, in this case, his legs. 

Giga was on-point with his strikes Saturday night – he first threw a head kick and had great accuracy as he landed 12 out of 18 significant strikes. But once Chikadze landed the most powerful left kick to Cub’s liver, you could immediately see Swanson cringe from the pain. Chikadze then followed through with a couple ground strikes before Referee Jason Herzog called the fight at 63 seconds in the first round. 

There are a lot of spectacular featherweight fighters in the UFC, but as for who Giga Chikadze (13-2-0) should face next is in the air. I would love to see a Chikadze and Shane Burgos matchup; maybe even a Chikadze vs. Josh Emmet! 

Light Heavyweight: Dominick Reyes vs. Jiri Prochazka – Main Event

The last fight to recap is in the Light Heavyweight main event, Dominick Reyes vs. Jiri Prochazka. This was another fight where I hoped for a dog-win. In this case, Dominick Reyes (12-3-0) had many attributes that stood out and could have caused issues for Prochazka. But, Prochazka continued to prove why he has a now 10-T/KO win streak. My UFC Pick for this fight was Dominick Reyes +104 via BetOnline (Visit our BetOnline Review), Jiri Prochazka held UFC odds at -130.

Throughout the first round, Prochazka stunned Reyes over and over again; his punches came from every direction possible while Reyes did his best to counter with the most accuracy. Let’s just say, at the end of round one, Reyes was badly beat up by Jiri. In the second round, in my eyes, it looked like Jiri was slowing down a bit but his power was still there. Reyes did hurt Prochazka at one moment; Prochazka shot for a takedown to save himself but almost got locked up in a guillotine choke. He was able to defend and escape; he even said in an interview after the fight “…I go very quickly for the win and by that I catch some punches and that’s a mistake”.

Jiri Prochazka (28-3-0)  was attacking Reyes with heavy punches, changed his angles, and utilized his fakes. He had Reyes pinned against the cage, and then threw the perfect spinning elbow to completely knock out reyes. The fight was called to a halt by Referee Herb Dean at 4 minutes and 29 seconds in the second round. 

This was Prochazka’s second successful UFC fight since his debut against Volkan Oezdemir in July 2020, and he’s continuing to add knockout wins to his record. This win over Reyes has brought Prochazka to the #2 rank in the UFC Light Heavyweight division, right behind our #1 Glover Teixeira. With that being said, Jiri Prochazka vs. Glover Teixeria next?

Closing Remarks and What’s Next?

UFC Vegas 25 was another profitable night for myself. Although I lost my “Dominick Reyes +104” bet, I did gain profits with “Merab Dvalishvili by Points -145” and “Sean Strickland by Points +140” via BetOnline (Visit our BetOnline Review). Like always, I want to give a shout out to the dog-winners on the entire card: Felipe Colares +115, Luana Carolina +210 and TJ Brown +120. 

Up next, we have a Women’s Flyweight main event in UFC Vegas 26: Marina Rodriguez vs. Michelle Waterson. Originally, T.J. Dillashaw and Cory Sandhagen were supposed to headline this event. But due to an injury for Dillashaw, their fight had to be postponed. The next scheduled headliner was Donald Cerrone vs. Diego Sanchez, however, after certain altercations, Sanchez was released from the UFC. 

Rodriguez and Waterson – originally strawweight competitors – are entering the octagon this upcoming saturday night as flyweights due to such a short notice. Although it has been a mess creating this card, I guarantee it will be another thrilling event. Be sure to subscribe to SBR’s YouTube page and watch my ‘UFC Picks & Predictions’ show with David Manyun and our special guests.

The post UFC Vegas 25: Dominick Reyes vs. Jiri Prochazka Recap appeared first on Picks.