A pivotal light heavyweight main event clash will kick May off with a bang.
Former title challenger Dominick Reyes (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) faces Jiri Prochazka (27-3-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in the main event of UFC on ESPN 23, which takes place on May 1 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Reyes, who gave former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones arguably the toughest outing of his career, will look to snap a two-fight losing skid. After a lostt to Jones at UFC 247 in February 2020, Reyes received another crack at the title when he met Jan Blachowicz for the vacant 205-pound belt at UFC 253 in September. In that fight, Reyes fell short in his title pursuit once again, when he was stopped by Blachowicz in Round 2.
Prochazka, a former Rizin light heavyweight champ, made one of the most memorable UFC debuts in recent memory when he knocked Volkan Oezdemir out cold at UFC 251 in July. The 28-year-old Czech Republic-born fighter hasn’t lost since December 2015 and has stopped his past nine opponents.
Check out the official poster for UFC on ESPN 23 below (via Instagram):
The current UFC on ESPN 23 card includes:
- Jiri Prochazka vs. Dominick Reyes
- TJ Brown vs. Kai Kamaka III
- Dean Barry vs. Mike Jackson
- Poliana Botelho vs. Luana Carolina
- K.B. Bhullar vs. Andreas Michailidis
- Damon Jackson vs. TJ Laramie
- Sam Hughes vs. Loma Lookboonmee
- Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Augusto Sakai
- Krzysztof Jotko vs. Sean Strickland
- Giga Chikadze vs. Cub Swanson
- Gabriel Benitez vs. Jonathan Pearce
- Felipe Colares vs. Journey Newson
- Merab Dvalishvili vs. Cody Stamann
- Ion Cutelaba vs. Devin Clark
- Herbert Burns vs. Alexander Munoz