Preview: UFC 311 ‘Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan 2’

Light Heavyweights

#3 LHW | Jamahal Hill (12-2, 6-2 UFC) vs. #2 LHW | Jiri Prochazka (30-5-1, 4-2 UFC)

ODDS: Hill (-115), Prochazka (-105)

It’s unclear where these two recent Alex Pereira victims will wind up with a win, but at the very least this should be a fun light heavyweight matchup that helps clarify the pecking order near the top of the division. In between Jon Jones leaving the division and Pereira establishing himself as the 205-pound kingpin, it looked like Jiri Prochazka might be the man to carry the light heavyweight division. Beyond his fascinating personality as a former Czech soccer hooligan obsessed with the Bushido code, Prochazka’s combination of athletic gifts and an unorthodox approach made for exciting fights that brought plenty of violence. Each fight towards Prochazka’s rise to champion status was a bit of an adventure, as his lack of defense saw him overcome trouble before finding finishes of Volkan Oezdemir and Dominick Reyes ahead of winning the belt in another back-and-forth epic against Glover Teixeira. A rematch with Teixeira was quickly put on the books, only for Prochazka to suffer a major shoulder injury that forced him out of action and caused him to vacate the belt. Through various events, it still wound up vacant by the time Prochazka was back in action a year and a half later. Prochazka was matched with Pereira to try and reclaim the belt that was formerly his, and that wound up being the pairing where his issues came home to roost. Prochazka did find some success but proved unable to eat offense from someone with as much power as Pereira, resulting in a second-round knockout. As a result of the loss, Prochazka hasn’t changed much given his two performances in 2024. His win over Aleksandar Rakic was his typical wild comeback against a much more technically proficient opponent, and a title rematch against Pereira wound up in another second-round knockout that followed a similar script to their first encounter. It’s unclear if Prochazka has it in him to change his approach for the better, but it would be a nice wrinkle, particularly since Hill doesn’t figure to be a walkover opponent.

When Prochazka vacated the light heavyweight title in 2022, Hill was somewhere between prospect and fringe contender. A 2019 alumnus of Dana White’s Contender Series, “Sweet Dreams” looked like a solid long-term prospect upon earning a contract. Hill needed to warm up over the course of his fights but did a decent job of keeping a pace and eventually overwhelming his opponents through striking offense. It was a basic but effective approach, and as Hill simply gained experience and rounded things out, surprisingly few light heavyweights were able to stand up to what he brought to the table. His lone misstep during his rise through the ranks came on the ground to submission expert Paul Craig. Hill kicked off 2022 with main event wins over Johnny Walker and Thiago Santos, but the expectation was that he would still need a few more impressive victories to crack into contention. Instead, he somehow wound up the light heavyweight champion within months. After the rematch between Prochazka and Teixeira fell through, the UFC pivoted to a fight between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev for the vacant belt. When that bout ended in an uninspiring draw, the promotion hastily threw together a title fight between Teixeira and Hill out of frustration for the following month, with the end result being the Chicago native cruising his way to a clear decision victory. Hill’s title reign never got off the ground, however, as he quickly suffered an injury that once again required the championship to be vacated, setting the stage for Pereira’s eventual reign; and once Hill was able to make his return, Pereira unceremoniously knocked him out in short order to cap UFC 300. Hill is certainly somewhere between a Top 5 and Top 10 light heavyweight at the very worst, but despite being a former champion, he’s still unproven enough that this fight is somewhat of a question mark. Hill hasn’t found himself under pressure often, and it hasn’t gone well the few times he has—mostly against Pereira. Still, there’s a decent chance he can skate by here given how much of Prochazka’s game is an absolute mess. With that said, Prochazka’s career is littered with fights where he’s technically outmatched until the point he springs into action and blows his opponent out of the water, and there’s not much to suggest that Hill can survive the buzzsaw that has downed so many other opponents once things get going. The pick is Prochazka via second-round knockout.

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Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan
Dvalishvili vs. Nurmagomedov
Hill vs. Prochazka
Moicano vs. Dariush
de Ridder vs. Holland
The Prelims