Most normally Octagon-side during flagship UFC events, promotional boss Dana White was left awestruck after missing out on a historic finish.
Returning to a pay-per-view setting this weekend, Dana White hosts a championship doubleheader from Las Vegas, with Alex Pereira attempting to regain the light heavyweight crown against Magomed Ankalaev.
And stacked in the co-headliner is a bantamweight title fight between Merab Dvalishvili and Cory Sandhagen.
Littered on the main card are the most eye-catching fights, including a pairing featuring an ex-champion who shocked White with his spectacular come-from-behind win.
- LATEST NEWS — Alex Pereira has chance to become first ‘modern era’ fighter to complete impressive feat with win at UFC 320
Dana White shocked by Jiri Prochazka’s late title victory
Missing out on one of the most emphatic championship victories in the history of mixed martial arts, White was rarely not front and center during UFC 275 in a trip to Singapore.
Initially missing out on the retirement of Joanna Jedrzejczyk in her devastating spinning-back fist loss to Zhang Weili, White also failed to catch the live moment of Jiri Prochazka’s title ascension.
Clashing with Brazilian fan-favorite Glover Teixeira in the night’s headliner, Prochazka rallied from a defeat on the judges’ scorecards to turn in a memorable finish.
Taking the back of the wicked Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu player in the final 30 seconds of the fight, Prochazka — sans hooks — submitted Teixeira with a rear-naked choke, pulling victory from the jaws of defeat in astonishing fashion.
“He’s not! Is he (Jiri Prochazka) f—— choking him (Glover Teixeira),” White said in a reaction on Instagram Live. “He tapped. No f—— way.
“Jiri f—— tapped him out,” White continued. “No way — no way what a f—— fight. What an absolute f—— war, man.
While failing to rematch Teixeira after a debilitating shoulder injury, Prochazka’s last-gasp winner has gone down in history already as one of the most shocking comeback wins in Octagon history.
UFC 320 star hopes to avoid war with Jiri Prochazka
Making his return off the back of a dominant win over Jamahal Hill, former title challenger Khalil Rountree has some reservations about taking on former champion Prochazka this weekend.
Looking to book his way to another shot at 205lbs gold, Rountree made it clear he has no plans to engage in a war of wills over the course of his showdown with the Czech finisher.
“Am I praying for this violent, bloody match?” Rountree said during his UFC 320 media scrum. “Absolutely not. If it goes there, it goes there. Can it go there? Absolutely, and I’m prepared.”