UFC 275 Betting Preview: Glover Teixeira Vs. Jiri Prochazka

This weekend, the UFC will be hosting its first numbered event in Southeast Asia, and the headliner bout will be Glover Teixeira vs. Jiri Prochazka. These two are on top of the light heavyweight division and will certainly be quite the spectacle closing out a historic UFC 275 event.

Teixeira is a 42-year-old that just got his first taste of UFC gold last year when he defeated Jan Blachowicz and his legendary “Polish power.” Teixeira is a very strong Brazilian fighter with heavy hands, clean boxing, and elite grappling abilities. His story is something that should be made into a movie, and he deserves all the fruits of his labor that he is receiving this fight week, going into his first title defense.

UFC 275 Betting Odds

Prochazka is the -200 favorite over Teixeira in this one, because he is on a 10-fight KO streak in his MMA career. 

This is interesting because his walk to the octagon at UFC 275 will only be his third time ever making that famous UFC walk. Surprisingly that has not been a huge storyline, and everyone accepted him getting the title shot because of how great he has looked in his two opportunities in the UFC.

Fight Preview

The fight that Prochazka should have studied is Teixeira’s first title shot against Jon Jones. I think the constant pressure Teixeira faced and fighting off his back foot proved to be really challenging for him. Prochazka could use many things Jones used in that one to his advantage this weekend in Singapore.

Teixeira has made a huge jump since that part of his career, where he lost a few big fights against elite opponents. He is on a 6-fight win streak and is riding tons of momentum going into this one. It is easy to see that he is really enjoying training hard and fighting, even at 42 years old.

The way to win this one for Teixeira is to weather the unorthodox storm from Prochazka and stick to his fundamentally sound boxing techniques and land big counter shots on Prochazka. If Prochazka fights the same way he did against Dom Reyes, it can cause some major issues for himself. Teixeira is a veteran of the game and is very disciplined in his striking. 

If Glover can catch Jiri a few times with heavy counter shots, that can change the whole course of the fight. That will lead to Teixeira being on his front foot and being able to go for takedowns and take the fight to the ground, where he will have a big advantage.

Prochazka will need to be much more patient and clean with the techniques he throws on the feet. It is worrisome about the level of confidence he has just blitzing into range with his hands down and throwing vicious shots. He got hit once by a straight counter right hand from Reyes, and it wobbled him; there is no doubt that Teixeira saw that exact moment and worked off it.

I really believe that this will be a very exciting fight from start to finish. Both fighters train so hard and are prepared to the best of their abilities for this historical event. It will be a classic showdown between the “OG” fighter and this new-age mixed martial artist that will be looking to take over the throne. Great night for MMA fans across the globe.