As I write this, a half-packed laptop bag sits behind me as I prepare to head out on the road to cover UFC Winnipeg this week. Yet UFC 327 in Miami (which Patrick Danna thankfully covered for us, as back-to-back weeks on the road aren’t my thing) is still resonating.
It may not have shocked the world, but UFC 327 was a reminder that, when so inspired, the UFC can still put on a very solid night of fights from top to bottom.
In fact, it was a good enough night for me to dust off this old “Aftermath” series (far from original, others sites have done them as well) for the second time in 2026. Probably because, in an era of poor booking and Apex Slop, when an event shines, it outright dazzles.
The Battle of Bellator Finally Arrives, and Does Not Disappoint
Ladies and gentleman, Aaron Pico.
The Aaron Pico we saw competing on Saturday at UFC 327 was not, despite online hyperbole, the best Pico we’ve ever seen. We have, in fact, seen a better Aaron Pico. He took too many lunging shots, was a little out of position a little too often. Peak Bellator Pico had better nights, if we’re being honest.
Yet it was a far better Aaron Pico who showed up at UFC 327 than the one who appeared in his UFC debut, and he has the win to prove it. Make no mistake, despite the loss to Lerone Murphy last year, Pico is a player in the UFC’s featherweight division. He always was. And now that the horse is out of the gate, let’s see how far he can ride.
Patricio Pitbull, were he the Pitbull of just a few years ago, would be a player as well. Now 1-2 in the UFC, at 38, it’s clear he has a ceiling. There are some fun fights for him, but I’ll go out on a very thick limb here and suggest he’ll never fight for the UFC’s featherweight title.
That said, Pitbull kept the fight with Pico interesting. One of the biggest Bellator MMA fights ever played out in the UFC octagon, and it didn’t disappoint. Bellator Never Die.
The Win that Wasn’t: Jiri Prochazka Sees Title Slip Through His Fingers
The win that wasn’t is how you can look at the UFC 327 main event.
Jiri Prochazka had the win in the bag after Carlos Ulberg either blew out his ACL or suffered a similar knee injury early in their headlining fight. No way Ulberg was ever going to be able to continue into the second round. A limping, lame duck rather than the “Black Jag” — right up until Prochazka got caught by a wounded cat striking out.
Check left hook, lights out.
Prochazka said after the fight that he had felt mercy for Ulberg, and didn’t move in for the kill like he should have. Instead, he took his foot off the gas. I’m not sure I agree fully; watching the fight, he absolutely targeted Ulberg’s leg. Yet Jiri did show more of a reserved approach considering how badly injured Ulberg was, so in the end, there is some truth to his words.
Ulberg, for one, felt Prochazka made the wrong choice. “I feel like he made the mistake there, because I would not have done the same,” the UFC’s new light heavyweight champ said following the win. “If you were in there to get that title, you do whatever it takes to get that win.”
This loss is going to haunt Jiri Prochazka for a while. He had the title in his grasp, and let it slip away. How he handles it, and bounces back, will be key. A former champion who vacated due to injury, Prochakza has dropped title fights to Alex Pereira and Ulberg now. He’s popular enough to earn another crack at gold, but he’ll need a few wins to get there. And he has only himself to blame.
Josh Hokit Is Here to Stay
Love him or hate him, and so many do the latter, but Josh Hokit is here to stay.
The Clown Prince of the heavyweight division might stumble on the mic, but he sure knows how to fight. Am I right, Miami?
Don’t take me aping Hokit’s public persona as any sort of endorsement. His routine is less late-career Chael Sonnen (when he was better on the mic, but found himself giving less in fights), and more Colby “Chaos Cringe” Covington. Just like Dana White isn’t a fan of it, it’s not my cup of tea either. Like White, however, I must concede: Hokit came to fight, and we might as well all stop harping on it, because if Josh Hokit continues to fight like that, the dumb pro wrestling promos and vaguely racist caricatures will be overshadowed anyway. In fact if he keeps fighting like he did at UFC 327, going to war with Curtis Blaydes in one of the best heavyweight fights of all time, the antics might just go away entirely.
Honestly, you don’t need them when you fight like that. And we’d all be better for it.
What Hokit did on Saturday was phenomenal. The unranked heavyweight walked into the Kaseya Center, came out guns blazing, and proved that, after both men had emptied their gas tanks, he had both the chin to withstand punches from a man 30 pounds heavier, and the wherewithal to keep himself in the fight as it drew on. The pair set a significant strikes record for heavyweight, with most of those apparently landing on “Razor” Blaydes’s face. Blaydes is now out with a broken nose and a broken orbital, while Hokit will be fighting Derrick Lewis on the Freedom 250 card at the White House.
It would be easy to write Hokit off as a clown because, well, he’s acted like one. Yet you can’t at this point. If he gets past Lewis, there are only a handful of names left ahead of him. If he doesn’t, Hokit isn’t going anywhere regardless, he’ll just be on a slower path. Credit where it’s due.
