10 months later, Procházka, having already defeated the then-No. 7 ranked contender, would face former title challenger Dominick Reyes. Despite coming off two consecutive losses, Reyes competed in back-to-back title fights against Jon Jones and Jan Blachowicz.
For Procházka, this was a big step up in competition, and a win would guarantee his name gets put on the short list of athletes next in line for a shot at the light heavyweight title. The biggest question going into this fight was how Procházka would handle the elite striking of Reyes, who went 25 minutes with Jones, one of the UFC’s all-time greats.
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While both athletes were landing an abundance of strikes, it was clear that Procházka had both the power and durability advantage in their exchanges. At the end of the first round, Reyes was wearing most of the damage and looked a step-behind a more polished Procházka than we saw in his debut.
Through three minutes into the second round, Procházka was walking Reyes down, landing a wide array of punches and kicks, and appeared to be in complete control. Reyes, who was looking for a counter left all fight to try and stop Procházka’s momentum, finally landed a picture-perfect left hand that staggered Procházka and forced a takedown attempt out of him.
