Alex PereiravsJiří Procházka

The setup

UFC 295 in November 2023 at Madison Square Garden was the vacant UFC LHW title bout between Alex Pereira (moving up from middleweight) and Jiří Procházka (returning after his 2022 shoulder injury vacated the title). Pereira had just lost the middleweight title to Adesanya at UFC 287 (April 2023) and was attempting to become a two-division UFC champion.

The fight

Round 1: A back-and-forth striking exchange. Procházka's unorthodox punching arcs and Pereira's tighter combinations produced a close round. Both fighters absorbed clean strikes; neither dominated.

Round 2: Pereira found the timing. The pattern:

• At 2:00 of round 2: Pereira landed a clean left hook on Procházka's temple. The strike rocked Procházka.
• At 3:30 of round 2: another left hook dropped Procházka to the canvas.
• At 4:08 of round 2: a third left hook combined with follow-up strikes against the cage produced the TKO. Referee Marc Goddard stopped the bout.

The result: Pereira TKO round 2 at 4:08.

The technical signature

The Pereira left hook was the canonical Pereira finishing strike:

• Counter timing: thrown off Procházka's commitment to forward exchanges, not from a static position.
• Hip rotation: full hip drive generated the power.
• Three strikes: not a single-shot finish, but three left hooks in 2 minutes that compromised Procházka's structural integrity.

The Procházka loss demonstrated the structural matchup limit. Procházka's willingness to trade in the pocket gave Pereira repeated opportunities to land the left hook.

The aftermath

The result:

• Pereira became UFC LHW champion: his second division title.
• Procházka's title vacate completed: the post-injury return ended in a title loss.
• The rematch: UFC 303 (June 2024) — Pereira KO'd Procházka with a left high kick in round 2. The trilogy result confirmed the Procházka matchup as Pereira-favorable.

Pereira's LHW reign through 2025:

• vs Procházka 1 (UFC 295) — TKO round 2
• vs Jamahal Hill (UFC 300) — KO round 1 via left hook
• vs Procházka 2 (UFC 303) — KO round 2 via head kick
• vs Khalil Rountree (UFC 307) — KO round 4
• vs Magomed Ankalaev (UFC 313) — UD over five rounds

The historical significance

The UFC 295 bout established the post-Jones LHW era. Jon Jones had vacated the LHW title in 2020 to move to heavyweight; the intervening years had produced rapid title turnover (Błachowicz, Teixeira, Procházka, Hill). Pereira's title win brought stability and combined with the modern striking-base championship template.

The technical lesson — that Pereira's left hook could finish even an unorthodox striker like Procházka — has shaped subsequent LHW matchmaking. The Pereira-vs-Ankalaev close decision at UFC 313 (March 2025) is the next chapter in the post-Jones LHW story.

The bout is on every list of significant 2023 MMA moments and is the canonical post-Jones LHW transition reference.