MMA
UFC 275 preview: Teixeira and Prochazka go to war
UFC 275 is upon us and it promises to be an action-packed night as light-heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira will attempt to defend his title against the formidable Jiří Procházka.
With both fighters on winning runs this light-heavyweight title fight should provide high-quality entertainment with some seriously powerful striking on show.
Before the main event Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko will defend her women’s flyweight belt against hard-hitting Brazilian Taila Santos.
Procházka to seek a KO victory
At UFC 275 29-year-old Czech fighter Jiří Procházka will have a chance to win his first-ever UFC championship belt by defeating veteran champion Glover Teixeira.
Procházka has had an exciting start to his UFC career as he comes into this fight on the back of two consecutive knockout victories in the UFC. This form sees Procházka head into the fight as favourite to win by any means at 1/2. The Czech fighter is somewhat of a knockout specialist with 89% of his professional wins coming by way of knockout or TKO which lands him at 4/6 to win by KO, TKO or DQ. However, only 7% of his career wins have come by submission and with odds of 25/1 it seems unlikely that he will force Teixeira to tap out in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Teixeira is a fighter with bags of experience who will defend the title with everything he has to offer. With this likely to be one of his last fights expect him to leave nothing in the octagon. Teixeira’s best chance of a win looks to be by way of submission at 7/2, so it is not unlikely that we could see his 30% win by submission rate rise. With a KO or TKO win percentage of just 55% Teixeira looks unlikely to win by those methods at 13/2.
With Teixeira at 7/1 to win by decision and Procházka at 13/2 to win by the same method it could prove to be a fairly even fight should it go the distance. However, Procházka will be looking to end this matchup within five rounds at 4/6 to win by KO, TKO or DQ and it seems that if Teixeira is to have any chance in this fight he will have to keep it on the ground and submit Procházka.
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Santos looking to cause an upset
UFC 275’s other title fight sees Taila Santos taking on current UFC Women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko.
Shevchenko comes into this fight as the clear favourite at 1/6. Shevchenko’s wide skill set has seen her methods of victory spread evenly throughout her career with eight wins by KO or TKO, seven by submission and seven by decision. At 19/20, a win by decision is the champion’s most likely method of victory.
Despite winning over half of her professional fights by KO or TKO, Santos looks unlikely to win this fight within the five rounds, at 12/1 to win by KO, TKO or DQ and 14/1 by submission.
With neither fighter possessing immense power it is likely we won’t see a KO or TKO, with the fight 8/11 to go the distance and Evens to be over before the final bell.
