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.

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Of UFC 327’s 12 bouts, five were on the main card, with three finishes and the retirement WEC and UFC legend, Cub Swanson. Theme for this fight card’s losers, definitely upsets, leaving five guys to find new dance partners for.

Jiri Prochazaka

(#3) Carlos Ulberg flatlined (#2) Jiri Prochazaka with a check hook and follow up ground n’ pound to capture the vacant UFC light heavyweight title on Saturday night in Miami. Jiri practically fumbled at the one-yard line, so to speak, as Carlos suffered a catastrophic knee injury just movements earlier. The New Zeeland based fighter couldn’t even put weight on his leg- a stinging defeat for Jiri.

Best matchup for Jiri here would be to give him the winner of the Jan Blachowicz vs. Bogdan Guskov fight. That bout is scheduled for UFC 328 in May so the timing could work well. Miraculously, Jiri has yet to face former light heavyweight champ, Blachowicz,l or rising contender Bogdan Guskov. Both men are coming off a majority decision draw to each other back in December. This rematch should determine who faces Jiri. Bogdan is riding a four-fight unbeaten streak and is 4-1-1 in the UFC only having lost to (#9) Volkan Oezdemir in 2023.

Jan on the other hand, is in an interesting situation. He’s 1-2-2 since losing his belt to Glover Teixeira back in 2021. Both fighters are obviously at completely different spots in their respective careers, but either could make sense and offer a fresh standup matchup with Prochazaka.

Prochazka’s next fight: (#5) Jan Blachowicz vs. (#8) Bogdan Guskov winner

Azamat Murzakanov

(#NR) Paulo Costa stopped a battered and broken (#6) Azamat Murzakanov in the final round of the pair’s fight in the co main event on Sunday. The loss marks the first defeat of Azmazt now 17-fight professional MMA career as he slips to 6-1 with the UFC.

Best fight for Azamat here, considering he was undefeated headed into this and drew a fighter that wasnt even ranked- Johnny Walker. Johnny lost an uneventful split decision to Dominick Reyes earlier in the night. Azamat could need some time following his defeat as he took a surplus of damaging kicks. However, it could still work, and Walker would benefit from a fight against a fighter that truly pushes the standup action like Murzakanov. This matchup could and should be on the main card of a pay per view card. Winner looking for a top fiveish matchup. Just depends on how fast Azamat is ready to comeback.

Murzakanov’s next fight: (#12) Johnny Walker

Curtis Blaydes

(#NR) Josh Hokit shocked nearly everyone in the arena on Saturday with his victory over (#5) Curtis Blaydes, mic work, and immediate turnaround booking with (#8) Derrick Lewis. But Blaydes might have been the most surprised as Hokit avoided drawn-out grappling exchanges and forced one of the better heavyweight standup wars in recent memory. Terrible loss for Curtis here, even though this was an early potential fight of the year candidate.  Curtis is now 2-3 in his last five fights including his unsuccessful shot at the Interim UFC Heavyweight title in 2024, opposite of Tom Aspinal.

A good matchup for Curtis is to give him the winner of Shamil Gaziev vs. Brandon Pericic. That fight is in May so of course, considering how much damage Blaydes took, timing may not line up. But being extremely optimistic here. Gaziev is a 2023 Contender Series veteran that would be 4-2 in the UFC with a victory over Brandon. Shamil is currently coming off a first round stoppage loss to (#4) Waldo Cortes Acosta who also stopped Derrick Lewis in his most recent bout. So that would keep Curtis still in the loop and on track for a potential rematch with Hokit down the line.

Pericic, the other option here, is 6-1 as a pro and 2-0 in the UFC with two first round finishes. Those came against Elisha Ellison and Louie Sutherland. So, Brando would be in a similar position as Hokit headed into UFC 327. Main card of pay per view type of fight, with the winner drawing a descending top 4-8 fighter.

Blaydes’s next fight: (#13) Shamil Gaziev vs. (#NR) Brandon Pericic winner

Johnny Walker

(#10) Dominick Reyes edged out (#12) Johnny Walker in a very bland split decision that saw little output from either fighter. The 2018 Contender Series alum now falls to 8-7 with the UFC and has dropped three of his last four bouts.

Walker should take on Azamat Murzakanov as the fight has huge upside for both guys. However, a decent backup for Walker, if Murzakanov is on the shelf for a while would be Julius Walker vs Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev winner. That fight is scheduled for late June.  Julius would be 2-2 in the UFC if he got the win against Abdul. Currently, his most recent fight was a second round TKO loss to (#14) Dustin Jacoby. Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev is a 2025 Contender Series alum that is 2-0 in the UFC. He finished his Contender Series opponent and both guys that he’s faced in the UFC inside of the first round. He’d be 3-0 facing Walker and looking for a ranking. This fight could be on the main card or a co main event of a fight night card.

Walker’s next fight: (#6) Azamat Murzakanov or Julius Walker vs. Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev 

Nate Landwehr

Cub Swanson had the perfect retirement fight as he delivered a clean combination to score a TKO victory over Nate Landwehr in the first round of the UFC 327 main card opener on Saturday. Landwehr now falls below .500 in the UFC, as he’s now 5-6. Nate’s also on a 3-fight skid and has dropped four of his last five, so he’s really struggling.

Straying from a pick on a previous edition of losers matchmaker here, best fight for Landwehr would be to give him Patricio Pitbull. Patrico just fought in the feature prelim of UFC 327 and lost to Aaron Pico via unanimous decision. He’s 38 years old while Landwehr is 37. Similar recovery times even though Nate was stopped. Pitbull is 1-2 since coming over to the UFC from Bellator where he was a former champion. His only win is opposite of Dan Ige who has also fought Landwehr, though Nate lost a unanimous decision.

This would be a true base level litmus test for Patricio and could do some heavy lifting for Nate. Timing would line up great for these guys and it’s a guaranteed good scrap. Could land anywhere, from a co main event of a fight night card to main card of a weaker pay per view potentially. Fight of the Night potential.

Landwehr’s next fight: Patricio Pitbull

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Prochazka was trying to regain the title he once held, while City Kickboxing’s Carlos Ulberg was getting his first championship opportunity in the main event in Miami, Florida.

A bit of a chess match opened the UFC 327 main event, though Ulberg would look to work in some calf kicks. In an early exchange, Ulberg’s knee appeared to buckle, and Prochazka took immediate advantage, kicking his kegs out from under him. Prochazka being aware meant he kept the fight standing, and continued to target the leg. A couple of outside kicks to the back of the knee forced Ulberg to step lightly, and he later fell off a kick of his own.

When Ulberg connected with a left hand, he went down on his own, and it seemed it was game over for “Black Jag.” The New Zealand native had other plans. Backed up against the fence almost for balance, Ulberg caught Prochazka with a check left hook on the way in. Prochazka went down, rolling over, but Ulberg had it in him to get on top and add some finishing strikes. The ref called it, and Carlos Ulberg, despite an apparently serious calf injury, had light heavyweight gold!

Ulberg suggested after the fight that he’d blown out his knee. He may be the first UFC champion to see an interim title fight in play the very same night he won his UFC title – but he won it nonetheless, and in memorable fashion.

Official Result: Carlos Ulberg def. Jiri Prochazka by KO, Round 1, 3:45

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A brilliant submission by Vicente Luque over Ultimate Fighter winner Kelvin Gastelum, with both now fighting at middleweight.

The first ever stoppage of Loopy Godinez, by recent strawweight title challenger Tatiana Suarez, working her way back to a shot at gold.

One of the most anticipated Bellator fights of all time, coming inside the UFC octagon, and seeing Aaron Pico earn his first win in the company over ex-double champ Patricio Pitbull

The retirement of Cub Swanson, going out on a high with a picture-perfect, patient, and punishing performance against Nate Landwehr who didn’t make it out of the first round.

Fair enough, we won’t talk about Dominick Reyes vs. Johnny Walker, with the paired booed out of the building. We will talk about Josh Hokit vs. Curtis Blaydes, which turned out to be one of the best heavyweight fights of all time. Up there with Bigfoot Silva vs. Mark Hunt, Hokit vs. Blaydes started at a breakneck pace and while the big men slowed as the fight went on, they never stopped swining.

Hokit had gone the pro wrestling route with some rather cringe personas throughout the week, but he came away with a win over a legitimate contender, in a Fight of the Night (and even Fight of the Year) contender that no one saw coming.

Following all that and Jiri Prochazka vs. Carlos Ulberg in the main event, tune in for the UFC 327 post-fight press conference above.

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Even the loss of Joshua Van vs. Tatsuro Taira, shifted to next month’s New Jersey card, didn’t hurt UFC 327 too much. With Alex Pereira having vacated his title in favor of a move to heavyweight, it was Jiri Prochazka vs. Carlos Ulberg headlining the show.

Prochazka was a former champ once again trying to reclaim his 205lb title; Ulberg was a City Kickboxing product on a nine-fight win streak ready for his first shot at gold. Either one was a worthy successor to “Poatan,” though Prochazka appeared to be the fan favorite in Miami this week.

The most anticipated Bellator MMA fight in years also arrived in Miami on Saturday, as part of the UFC 327 prelims. Patricio Pitbull and Aaron Pico had long been expected to face off in their own home, since acquired by the PFL and mothballed. With both now calling the UFC home, matchmakers took advantage and finally got the booking done.

Cub Swanson, meanwhile, kicked off the UFC 327 main card in his retirement fight. The WEC and UFC legend and Hall of Famer (for his UFC 206 scrap with Doo-Ho Choi) was calling it a career, the last active WEC star on the roster, in a fight with Nate Landwehr.

Our picks are in for UFC 327! Here’s who we see coming out ahead.

Writer / Fight	Swanson vs. Landwehr	Reyes vs. Walker	Blaydes vs. Hokit	Costa vs. Murzakanov	Prochazka vs. Ulberg
Eddie Law
Jay Anderson
Chris Prawdzik
Mathis Desjardins
Brett Cagle
Patrick Danna
Alex Behunin

It’s a landslide in the main event, with all writers responding by deadline siding with Jiri Prochazka. Despite an impressive win streak, no love for Carlos Ulberg here.

There isn’t much love for the Clown Prince of the heavyweight division either. Only one writer is siding with Josh Hokit, who has been taking on pro-wrestling style personas, with mixed results, ahead of his fight with Curtis Blaydes. “Razor” Blaydes has played it cool and has a considerable weight advantage in the fight itself.

The post UFC 327: Prochazka vs. Ulberg Main Card Staff Picks appeared first on Cageside Press.

A new flyweight champion will not be.

While Jiri Prochazka and Carlos Ulberg have made it to the date intact for their main event fight, which has the belt vacated by Alex Pereira on the line, Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira were not so lucky. With Van injured, their planned co-main event has shifted to UFC 328 in New Jersey, forcing Taira to wait another month for his shot at gold.

Still, UFC 327 has plenty to offer. The main event, the retirement fight of Cub Swanson, Paulo Costa moving to 205lbs, and the long awaited Bellator super-fight between Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and Aaron Pico.

Weigh-ins for UFC 327 take place Friday in Miami started at 9AM ET, 6AM PT. Results can be found below.

UFC 327: Prochazka vs. Ulberg Weigh-In Results

Main card
Light Heavyweight: Jiří Procházka (203) vs. Carlos Ulberg (204) — for the vacant UFC light heavyweight championship
Light Heavyweight: Azamat Murzakanov (205) vs. Paulo Costa (205)
Heavyweight: Curtis Blaydes (261) vs. Josh Hokit (233)
Light Heavyweight: Dominick Reyes (205) vs. Johnny Walker (205)
Featherweight: Cub Swanson (146) vs. Nate Landwehr (145)

Preliminary card 

Featherweight: Patrício Pitbull (145) vs. Aaron Pico (145)
Lightweight: Mateusz Gamrot (156) vs. Esteban Ribovics (155)
Welterweight: Kevin Holland (171) vs. Randy Brown (171)
Women’s Strawweight: Tatiana Suarez (116) vs. Loopy Godinez (116)

Early preliminary card

Lightweight: Chris Padilla (158)* vs. MarQuel Mederos (155)
Middleweight: Kelvin Gastelum (185) vs. Vicente Luque (185)
Welterweight: Charles Radtke (170) vs. Francisco Prado (170)

* Missed Weight, gives up 20% of his purse, but fight will go on.

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With Alex Pereira moving to heavyweight (making his debut as part of Freedom 250 at the White House in June), Jiri Prochazka now has a chance to reclaim his old title. Opposite him, Carlos Ulberg, a City Kickboxing star and teammate of Israel Adesanya sitting on a very impressive nine-fight win streak.

It’s a striking fan’s dream, the sort of title fight that promises to end well inside 25 minutes. Yet originally, it was to be paired with the flyweight title bout between Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira.

The UFC’s luck of late has not been great, and it failed them once again at UFC 327 with Van pulling out due to injury. That fight has now been shifted to UFC 328 in Newark.

Still, Prochazka vs. Ulberg alone is more than enough to carry a PPV card for a change. And with some other bright spots, including Paulo Costa moving to light heavyweight and the long-awaited Bellator super-fight between Patricio Pitbull and Aaron Pico, there’s plenty for fans in Miami to get excited about.

Ahead of UFC 327, tune in for the event’s pre-fight press conference, which kicks off at 5PM ET, 2PM PT on Thursday.

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“Yes for sure,” he said when asked that exact question during the UFC 327 media day in Miami this week.

Prochazka (32-5-1) is looking to become a two-time light heavyweight champion after Alex Pereira vacated his title in favor of a move to heavyweight. Opposite him this Saturday at the Kaseya Center will be City Kickboxing’s Carlos Ulberg, who sits on a nine-fight win streak.

Ulberg’s kickboxing style is something that Prochazka, likewise known for his standup, welcomes.

“For sure I like this match-up, because Carlos is a great standup fighter. I like to fight standup,” Prochazka told media outlets including Cageside Press.

“He proved that he’s a really good striker. In movement, he has good movement, precise punches. I think in the standup, from all my opponents, this one, Ulberg is, with this, his style is very specific, very systematic. Really somebody who right now I need to face to push my standup up.”

There is a longtime narrative that Jiri Prochazka is a slow starter, something that has dogged him since his arrival in the UFC. That’s been a focus ahead of the Ulberg fight, with the key, according to Prochazka, being to figure out “how to unlock this primal aggression inside myself, to go there in the fight like the second round. To start the first round like the second round.”

Fatherhood, meanwhile, has Prochazka thinking more about responsibility.

“Since I knew that there will be a new life in my life, and I will be a father, first came a big, lot of thoughts about responsibility, about the end of my free time and all these things. But I don’t have free time, everything is about the fight, about the preparation. So I started to work more to believe, to my girlfriend, that we can handle that. I started to work on our relationship, to be more deeply connected and to understand each other more.”

As Prochazka later put it, “to be a father is not just about one person, it’s parents.”

Watch the full UFC 327 media day appearance by Jiri Prochazka above.

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Per Dana White, who announced the news on social media late Friday, Jiri Prochazka will face Carlos Ulberg in the main event of the Miami, Florida-based card.

The event takes place on April 11, 2026 at the Kaseya Center. The fight will be for the promotion’s undisputed light heavyweight strap.

White confirmed Friday that Alex Pereira has vacated his title, which likely signals a long-talked about move to heavyweight for “Poatan.” Talk will no doubt quickly shift to the UFC’s White House card, scheduled for June, with Pereira among the frontrunners to fight there.

Up first however is UFC 327. Prochazka (32-5-1) is a former light heavyweight champ who is currently riding a two-fight win streak, with wins over Jamahal Hill and Khalil Rountree Jr. The Czech star captured UFC gold in 2022 against Glover Teixeira, but later vacated the belt due to injury. He twice faced off against Pereira, both times for gold, but came up short on each occasion.

While a change in weight classes was briefly mulled, Prochazka’s recent successes put him right back in the mix. Now, he’ll get the surging Ulberg (13-1), a City Kickboxing teammate alongside Israel Adesanya who has rattled off a seriously impressive nine-fight win streak.

Most recently, “Black Jag” knocked out the resurgent Dominick Reyes. Ulberg is currently ranked #3 in the light heavyweight division, while Prochazka sits in the #2 spot.

A flyweight title fight between champ Joshua Van and Japan’s Tatsuro Taira serves as the UFC 327 co-main event.

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Comeback of the Year 2025

Eddie Law: It’s hard not to pick Jiri Procházka’s comeback knockout over Rountree Jr. when you consider how brutal those first two rounds were. Rountree appeared to be cruising to a clear decision win, but a brilliantly timed combination flipped the entire fight on its head, giving the former champion one of the year’s most dramatic finishes.

Gabriel Gonzalez: Jiri Prochazka Over Khalil Rountree. In the third round, it seemed that Prochazka had simply ended up on the wrong side of stylistic matchup with the polished striker in Rountree. With the clock winding down, Prochazka began finding his mark and was able to violently stop Rountree to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and reassert his place in the title picture.

Jay Anderson: I’ve got to go with Jiri Prochazka’s comeback over Khalil Rountree Jr. The stakes might have been higher in Costello van Steenis vs. Johnny Eblen, which was also a big comeback win for van Steenis. Prochazka’s stood out just a little more, and it was a fight that shared Fight of the Year honors as well.

Brett Cagle: Iwo Baraniewski vs Ibo Aslan. The final PPV of the year had one of the best brawls of the year on the prelims. Poland’s Iwo Baraniewski overcame early adversity to knockout Ibo Aslan in the first round. A memorable back and forth slugfest fans won’t soon forget.

Mathis Desjardins: Jiri Prochazka def. Khalil Rountree Jr. [UFC 320]. Very few things this year in MMA were as mesmerizing as watching Jiri Prochazka’s superhero-like comeback against Khalil Rountree Jr. Hollywood usually writes scripts like this for Rocky movies, not real-life cage fights. Seeing Jiri come to life in that third round felt like watching Rocky Balboa get off the canvas and KO Ivan Drago in the final round.

Daniel Vreeland: Jiri Prochazka vs Khalil Rountree. Rountree came out at UFC 320 like a man possessed. He executed the gameplan early to a T. He exploited the weak defensive striking of Jiri Prochazka and seemed to be ready to stake his claim to another title fight in no time. Prochazka – as he often does – had different plans for the end of the fight. The much fresher fighter came out in the third and put a beatdown on Rountree, scoring a finish with just minutes left on the clock.

Bryson Hester: Costello van Steenis def. Johnny Eblen. Easy one here, Costello Van Stennis, heavy underdog taking on the champion an undefeated 16-0, Johnny Eblen. Van Stennis was dominated for the vast majority of the 25 minute fight before coming back and securing a rear naked choke in the final 10 seconds of the fight.

End Result: It’s Jiri Prochazka earning our Comeback of the Year award for 2025 by a comfortable margin, for his fight with Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 320.

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