The best fights from UFC APEX Fight Nights

by Junna Base November 7, 2024

Jiří Procházka is rightly receiving flowers for his spinning elbow knockout against Dominick Reyes in the 2021 main event. However, this epic blow overshadows what an incredible fight these two lightweights put on for almost two rounds.

The stakes before the fight were as high as possible. Procházka burst onto the scene, knocking out Volkan Oezdemir in his UFC debut and hoping to clinch the title with a win over Reyes. Meanwhile, Reyes wanted to get back on his feet. Two fights earlier, he pushed Jon Jones to a controversial decision loss at UFC 247 and had lost his second title fight to Jan Błachowicz for the vacant belt. The last thing his title chances needed was a third straight defeat.

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With this framework around the fight, the two men caused one car accident after another in the UFC APEX. While Procházka’s punches and moves were tempting, Reyes fought very well and regularly landed his heavy left hand and left kicks, occasionally hurting Procházka. Sporting a now-signature ponytail for the first time, the Czech samurai mastered everything, including a serious guillotine attempt. Reyes also hit Procházka with an upward kick that appeared to severely injure his opponent, but Procházka simply kept pushing. When Reyes finally buckled under the pressure, Procházka’s creativity came into its own, delivering one of the cleanest, scariest spinning knockouts you’ve ever seen.