UFC 303 Main Event Pick
This was supposed to be it. This was supposed to be the night Conor McGregor made his long-awaited return. Tickets were sold (at egregious prices), flights and hotels were booked, the trailers and promos were being aired. Then, it all came crashing down with reports of McGregor suffering a minor injury that will postpone his matchup with Michael Chandler, likely until late Q3/early Q4. Read more 303 main event pick.
The UFC sprung into action and managed to put together the best main event they could on such short notice, and it included none other than the man that saved UFC 300 as well. Light heavyweights will be battling it out for divisional supremacy in a rematch of a fight that took place back in November.
Champion, Alex Pereira, will be looking to defend his title for the second time and come through as company man once again.
Jiri Prochazka is dead set on regaining the championship he vacated in 2022 after suffering a significant shoulder injury.
Will this be a repeat of the UFC 295 result? Or will Prochazka even the score while capturing gold? Read on to see how these dynamic strikers match up and who should reign supreme this weekend.
Hey, while you’re at it, click here to check out our Godzilla Wins Daily Staff Picks! 
Alex Pereira
The MMA rise to prominence for Pereira is one for the ages. He came from the kickboxing world as a multiple time world champion, all in hopes of chasing a foe from those days who now was rich and famous in the MMA world. Pereira defeated Adesanya twice in kickboxing, so he thought he might as well do it in MMA too.
Within 14 months and 6 fights, Adesanya was fighting for UFC gold. It only took Pereira 12 months and 4 fights to fight for gold and achieve it. Now 4 more fights later Pereira has earned the middleweight and light heavyweight championship, headlined MSG twice, and headlined the historic UFC 300 card. It’s unbelievable how fast he rose to the top.
What makes Pereira so dangerous is his nasty striking style. He has an explosive lead left hook that many opponents have fallen victim to. His calf kicking game causes opponents a lot of issues as they start to slow down and make mistakes.
The goal for most opponents was to try and exploit the grappling game of Pereira, but he has worked on it enough to stay safe, not get finished, and eventually work back to his feet where he often holds an advantage. It is impressive he has managed to round out his MMA game well enough, especially now being about two weeks shy of his 37th birthday.
Jiri Prochazka
Coming into the UFC on a 10-fight winning streak back in mid-2020, Prochazka decimated Volkan Oezdemir and Dominick Reyes within two rounds to eventually earn himself a title shot in mid-2022. That set up an epic war with Glover Teixeira, who happens to be the head coach for his foe this weekend.
They went back and forth for 4.5 rounds before Prochazka managed to latch onto a rear naked choke, forcing the exhausted Teixeira to tap out. There was a rematch scheduled but a significant shoulder injury forced Prochazka to vacate the title and sit on the sidelines for over 1.5 years. Falling short upon his return, Prochazka rallied back for a second-round knockout over top content, Aleksandar Rakic in April. That positioned him to earn another shot at the title, albeit on short notice.
One of the most unique characters and personas we’ve ever seen in the UFC, Prochazka brings a samurai-like demeanor to his interviews and fighting style. He can fight with discipline, follow a game plan, and take opponents out.
However, it’s really his power and aggressiveness that causes opponents to fall. He may have come up short against Pereira the first time, but we saw him eat massive shots from Rakic for a solid 5 minutes, without even a sign of flinching. Some days his durability shows up, some days it does not. He stalked his opponents like prey, waiting for the opportunity to explode and land big power. It may not be technical at times, but it sure as hell is devastating.
The Pick
Something important to note about this fight is that it was originally scheduled to take place later this year. There were rumblings that when the UFC initially reached out to Prochazka to fill in on UFC 303, he was against it due to the short notice nature. I believe the UFC ended up throwing a bag at him and he reluctantly agreed. The last time these guys were in the cage was the same night at UFC 300 in April. We are just about 2.5 months removed.
These two initially met in November when Pereira knocked him out in the second round, after a first round that was largely controlled by Prochazka’s grappling. Once they started to strike, the more disciplined and technical striking of Pereira reigned supreme, allowing him to find the knockout. This is a very close fight considering the power both men carry. We’ve seen them both get finished by strikes in the past, so it could go either way.
Seeing action coming in on Prochazka makes the Pereira line a little more enticing at -130 and that’s ultimately what I’ll end up leaning on. If you can find an alternate total of under 2.5 at anything better than -150, I’d shoot on that too.
