Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiřà Procházka makes his highly anticipated return this weekend as he faces former middleweight champion Alex Pereira in the main event at UFC 295 on Saturday night (10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV, with prelims at 8 p.m. on ESPNews/ESPN+ and early prelims at 6 p.m. on ESPN+).
Procházka (29-3-1) has been out of action for nearly 17 months as he was recovering from a shoulder injury. In his absence, the division has only had one other titleholder, Jamahal Hill, who also had to vacate the title due to injury in July. Pereira (8-2), who recently moved up to the 205-pound division, beat former champion Jan Blachowicz by split decision in July to earn this title fight. Pereira is ranked No. 2 in ESPN's divisional rankings.
In the co-main event, Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall will go head-to-head for the interim heavyweight title. This fight was recently booked following the announcement that reigning champion Jon Jones backed out of his title defense against Stipe Miocic due to injury. Pavlovich (18-1), ESPN's No. 2 ranked heavyweight, enters the fight riding a six-fight win streak, each of those wins coming via first-round knockout. Most recently, Aspinall (13-3), ESPN's No. 5 ranked heavyweight, beat Marcin Tybura by first-round knockout in the main event at UFC London in July.
Brett Okamoto spoke to UFC welterweight and ESPN MMA analyst Michael Chiesa to get his perspective on the UFC main event. ESPN's betting experts Reed Kuhn and Ian Parker add their insights and analysis on the main event and other intriguing bets they like on the card.
Editor's note: Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.
