Alex Pereira v Jiri Prochazka Betting Tips
Sunday, June 30 – 6am
UFC 303 – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
TV: TNT Sports
It’s UFC 303 fight week, and the stars of the fight card are arriving in Las Vegas ahead of a huge night of fights at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night.
As we laid out last week, the event has a new main event. With Conor McGregor ruled out of his planned matchup with Michael Chandler, the UFC has booked a dynamite light heavyweight title rematch between defending champ Alex Pereira and former titleholder Jiri Prochazka for this weekend’s main event.
Last week, we offered three keys to victory for Pereira as “Poatan” looks to claim his second victory over Prochazka. But what about “BJP?” The former champion has plenty in his arsenal, but what can he do to turn the tables on the defending champ this weekend? Here are three potential routes to victory for the Czech superstar…
Jump on Pereira early
Pereira is a very composed fighter, very deliberate in his movements, and very considered in his approach. By contrast, Prochazka is chaos, and he needs to lean into that to help knock Pereira out of his comfort zone and open up opportunities to strike.
Prochazka stood in front of Pereira too much in the first meeting, and that let the Brazilian find his range and land his shots, with his leg kicks in particular having particular success.
This time around, Prochazka should consider coming out of the traps fast, being as unorthodox and crazy as possible, but doing it while exerting some real forward pressure on the champion. If he can put Pereira on the back foot, he’s then in a position to let his power shots land.
Be unpredictable
Following on from the above, Prochazka’s successes have come from his unorthodox approach and the unusual angles he throws his strikes from, and that unpredictability is crucial to Prochazka’s success here, too.
With that forward pressure we mentioned above, Prochazka can then start to let his strikes go. Keeping himself off the centre line and throwing kicks, elbows and punches from wild angles will give him the best chance to penetrate Pereira’s traditional defensive stance. And, as we’ve seen from his past fights, if Prochazka hurts his man, he finishes them quickly thereafter.
Wrestle!
This one’s an interesting one, as we used this as a possible key to victory for Pereira last time out. But, just as it could be important for Pereira, it’s arguably even more important for Prochazka.
Pereira has been working his wrestling with his mentor and former light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira, but Prochazka has been training all aspects of MMA for much longer, and his wrestling game should be stronger than the champion’s.
Pereira’s best path to victory is to connect big and stop Prochazka with strikes again, and the best way to nullify that threat is to take the Brazilian off his feet.
Prochazka can also use the threat of the takedown to bring Pereira’s hands down. If Pereira bites on Prochazka’s takedown feints, that opens the door to a head kick or one of Prochazka’s big multi-punch combinations. And, if he can land clean on “Poatan,” the big Czech could close the show at UFC 303 with a title-changing finish.
Alex Pereira v Jiri Prochazka betting odds
It’s tougher to pick than a broken nose, but if you know who has the edge in the UFC 303 main event, you can back your pick right here, with our snazzy widgets giving you up-to-date odds on the big fight.
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
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