The UFC 295 main event featuring Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka for the light heavyweight title became official after both fighters successfully weighed in on Friday morning.
Pereira stepped into the scales early at 9:11 AM and weighed in at 204lbs. Prochazka followed shortly after, weighing in at 204.2lbs at 9:48 AM.
Pereira and Prochazka will compete for a vacant belt after former champion Jamahal Hill stepped down due to an Achilles injury sustained during a basketball game.
Saturday’s headliner will be Pereira’s second fight in the light heavyweight division and Prochazka’s return from a 15-month absence.
‘I’m so happy that he is in this weight class,’ Pereira’s coach and former light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira said. ‘It’s more natural.’
The main event for UFC 295 became official after Pereira and Prochazka weighed in on Friday
Prochazka and Pereira will fight for the vacant UFC light heavyweight title in New York City
Originally the co-main event, Pereira and Prochazka became headliners after Jon Jones suffered an injury that scratched his title defense and legacy fight with Stipe Miocic.
In 2022, Pereira defeated his rival Israel Adesanya at Madison Square Garden to become the UFC middleweight champion. After losing the belt in their fourth meeting (second in MMA), Pereira moved to light heavyweight and defeated another former champion, Jan Blachowicz.
A victory on Saturday would make Pereira the fastest fighter to win two titles in the UFC, and doing so in his 11th professional MMA fight.
On the other hand, Prochazka won the title against Teixeira in June of 2022 but vacated it shortly after due to a shoulder injury.
Despite over a year of inactivity, Prochazka rides a 13-fight win streak into Saturday.