Jirí Procházka will be looking to regain the UFC light heavyweight title he surrendered last year because of injury when he faces former middleweight champ Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 295 on Saturday in New York.
The main card at Madison Square Garden will be on ESPN+ pay-per-view starting at 10 p.m. ET, with prelims on ESPN News, ESPN+ and the ESPNMMA YouTube page at 8 p.m. and early prelims on ESPN+ and the ESPNMMA YouTube at 6 p.m.
The co-main event is a fight for an interim heavyweight title between Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall.
Procházka (29-3-1) last fought in June 2022, when he dethroned Pereira training partner Glover Teixeira via fifth-round submission. It was Procházka's 13th consecutive victory.
Pereira (8-2) beat former champ Jan Blachowicz by split decision in July in his 205-pound debut. Pereira is No. 2 in the ESPN light heavyweight rankings.
What are the storylines behind the top fights at UFC 295, which lost its original main event when heavyweight champ Jon Jones suffered an injury in training and had to pull out of his defense against ex-champ Stipe Miocic? How are experts breaking down the fights? What do the fighters have to say? Here is the fight card, how to watch it and a collection of all of the UFC 295 essentials.
UFC 295 fight card
ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET
Light heavyweight: Jirí Procházka vs. Alex Pereira
Heavyweight: Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall
Strawweight: Mackenzie Dern vs. Jessica Andrade
Lightweight: Matt Frevola vs. Benoit Saint Denis
Men's featherweight: Diego Lopes vs. Pat Sabatini
ESPN News/ESPN+/ESPNMMA YouTube, 8 p.m. ET
Men's flyweight: Steve Erceg vs. Alessandro Costa
Strawweight: Tabatha Ricci vs. Loopy Godínez
Lightweight: Mateusz Rebecki vs. Roosevelt Roberts
Lightweight: Nazim Sadykhov vs. Viacheslav Borshchev
ESPN+/ESPNMMA YouTube, 6 p.m.
Lightweight: Jared Gordon vs. Mark O. Madsen
Men's bantamweight: John Castaneda vs. Kyung Ho Kang
Men's flyweight: Joshua Van vs. Kevin Borjas
Men's featherweight: Dennis Buzukja vs. Jamall Emmers
How to watch the fights
Watch the PPV and all other fights on ESPN+: Get ESPN+ here.
Watch the prelims on ESPN News and ESPN+. Download the ESPN App | WatchESPN | TV schedule
Don't have ESPN News? Get instant access.
Purchased the fight on your phone and want to stream on your TV? Find out how here.
There's also FightCenter, which offers live updates for every UFC card.
Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall by the numbers
6.31. Without question, Pavlovich will be the most dangerous striker that Aspinall has faced. The Russian might just be the most dangerous striker in UFC history. While averaging only 21.7 total strikes landed per fight, Pavlovich averages 6.31 knockdowns per 15 minutes. That is the highest rate in the promotion's history and more than two knockdowns more than the next fighter. Drew McFedries has the second-best knockdown rate at 4.27. Aspinall has the fifth-best rate at 2.78.