UFC’s 30th anniversary celebration will continue without Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic
• 3 min read
UFC celebrates its 30-year anniversary in one of sport’s most hallowed halls. UFC 295 takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday with Jiri Prochazka vs. Alex Pereira atop the marquee and Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall in the co-main event.
UFC 295 suffered a major blow in the weeks leading to the event. Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic — arguably the greatest light heavyweight and heavyweight champions, respectively — was the original main event with the heavyweight championship on the line. But Jones suffered an injury in training, forcing him off the card and delaying the dream fight to next year. Prochazka vs. Pereira was elevated from co-headliner to the marquee with the vacant light heavyweight title on the line.
Former UFC middleweight champion Pereira punched his ticket to the light heavyweight title after a successful 205-pound debut against former champ Jan Blachowicz. He will meet Prochazka, who never lost the championship but was forced to vacate it last year due to injury. Pereira is more motivated than usual as he looks to avenge his mentor Glover Teixeira, who lost the title to Prochazka in CBS Sports’ 2022 Fight of the Year. Prochazka and Pereira have had remarkably fast rises in the UFC. They look to win their second UFC title in four and seven Octagon appearances, respectively.
“It’s what we talked about before, skills and experience. He has high-level experience in kickboxing,” Prochazka told CBS Sports. “The specialty is that he turns his kickboxing to an MMA style. He found a way to do that. Everybody has some style that they fight with. I have my style. For this fight with Alex, I had to change a little bit. Especially after my last fight with Glover. There were a lot of mistakes that I had to change.”
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A heavyweight tilt was added to the main card lineup in the absence of Jones vs. Miocic. Sergei Pavlovich was always the intended backup for the original main event, but he won’t fight Miocic either. UFC president Dana White announced Pavlovich vs. Aspinall for the interim heavyweight title instead. It may not be as star-studded, but Pavlovich vs. Aspinall is arguably the better fight between two future pillars of the heavyweight division.
“It’s a tough one with someone with a lot of power like that. I need to stay playful in there. It’s what I gotta do,” Aspinall told CBS Sports. “If I tense up and I’m too serious, I’m either going to go all in or I’m going to do nothing. They’re both wrong. Both of those are wrong. I have to go in between going all in and nothing and just playing around and feel my way in rather than being a bit greedy.”
Below is the complete fight card for UFC 295 along with the latest odds. Check back all week long for the latest news, features and other content around this massive event.
UFC 295 fight card, odds
- Alex Pereira -130 vs. Jiri Prochazka +110, vacant light heavyweight title
- Tom Aspinall -110 vs. Sergei Pavlovich -110, interim heavyweight title
- Mackenzie Dern -190 vs. Jessica Andrade +160, women’s strawweights
- Benoit Saint-Denis -210 vs. Matt Frevola +175, lightweights
- Pat Sabatini -130 vs. Diego Lopes +110, featherweights
- Steve Erceg -250 vs. Matt Schnell +205, flyweights
- Loopy Godinez -150 vs. Tabatha Ricci +125, women’s strawweights
- Nazim Sadykhov -140 vs. Viacheslav Borschev +120, lightweights
- Mateusz Rebecki -165 vs. Nurullo Aliev +140, lightweights
- Jamal Emmers -290 vs. Dennis Buzukja +230, featherweights
- Jared Gordon -180 vs. Mark Madsen +155, lightweights
- John Castaneda -165 vs. Kyung Ho Kang +140, bantamweights
- Joshua Van -230 vs. Kevin Borjas +190, flyweights
UFC 295 info
- Date: Nov. 11
- Location: Madison Square Garden — New York City
- Start time: 10 p.m. ET (Main card)
- How to watch: ESPN+ PPV
UFC 295 countdown
- Campbell: UFC prioritizing money over fans in recent matchmaking
- Brookhouse: Best bets to consider from the main card
- Brookhouse: Winner of Prochazka-Pereira could bring stability to division
- Mahjouri: Undercard fights to watch this weekend
- Mahjouri: Prochazka, Pereira explain why experience trumps all
- Campbell: Top storylines, things to know ahead of return to New York
- Jon Jones forced out of main event, interim title fight added
Who wins UFC 295: Prochazka vs. Pereira, and how exactly does each fight end? Visit SportsLine now to get detailed picks on every fight at UFC 295, all from the MMA expert who profited more than $6,200 in 2022, and find out.
