The octagon returned to New York City on Saturday with UFC 295 set to crown two new champions for the promotion — though neither title fight was the one fans had been eagerly anticipating when the card was originally announced.
An injury to Jon Jones saw his legend versus legend fight with Stipe Miocic pulled from the event, replaced instead by Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall for an interim heavyweight title. Hardcore MMA fans no doubt knew that Pavlovich vs. Aspinall was probably the better fight, with both men certainly deserving of the opportunity.
Still, it’s hard not to mourn the loss of a fight many had been waiting the better part of a year, if not more, to see. From the second Jones hinted at a move to heavyweight, fights with Francis Ngannou (no longer an option) and Miocic were the dream.
Bumped up to main event status at UFC 295, meanwhile, was Jiri Prochazka vs. Alex Pereira, a battle for light heavyweight supremacy with Czech Republc’s Prochazka in search of the title he vacated due to injury over a year ago. Pereira, for his part, was looking to claim gold in a second weight class, as he had done in GLORY years ago.
Following UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, tune in for the event’s post-fight press conference to stay on top of all the breaking news from the card. An embed can be viewed above.
