When it comes to dissecting the elements of UFC championship fights, there is no greater resource than the coaches that spend their days preparing men and women to make the walk to the Octagon and step into the fire.
The Coach Conversation series was created to bring the insights and opinions of some of the top coaches in the sport to fans ahead of each championship pairing, offering an insider’s perspective on the combatants getting set to step into the fray and compete for UFC gold.
Ahead of this weekend’s UFC 303 light heavyweight championship rematch between Alex Pereira and Jiří Procházka, I sat down with New England Cartel head man Tyson Chartier to discuss the key elements of this matchup and get a sense for how things might play out on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Best Trait of Each Fighter
Kyte: Let’s get into this one. What’s the best trait of Alex Pereira and what’s the best trait of Jiří Procházka?
Chartier: Obviously for Alex it’s his kickboxing and his power, and for Jiří, I think it’s that he’s unorthodox and headstrong. They’re both headstrong, but Jiří brings that whole samurai spirit to the whole thing.
I think it comes down to the power — that frickin’ left hand of Alex. It’s the power and kickboxing versus the unique samurai spirit and awkwardness of Jiří, and I don’t mean awkward in an insulting way, at all.
Kyte: For sure. He’s awkward in a good way; the Tim Elliott kind of awkward.
When you’ve got a guy like Pereira who has just got that “death touch” of a left hand — doesn’t have to hit you flush, doesn't have to be a perfect shot and you still end up on the canvas — how do you address that in camp? You want to do your best to just avoid it, but it can’t just be “stay away from the left” because he’s going to throw it and there are going to be moments where it’s in play.
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Chartier: I think you can’t match power with power — you’ve got to pick your distance, a lot of feints to draw out that stuff, keep him guessing on when to go, because if you predictably move in with no feints, he’s gonna time it; he’s too smart for that.
So a lot of in-and-out, a lot of movement, a lot of fakes and feints, and then mixing up the levels. He (Procházka) had some success with the calf kick early in the last fight. I thought he was winning that fight until he got caught.
One thing he did in that fight is when he went open stance, it took away the left hand of Alex a little bit, gave him trouble. He seemed to do better when he went open stance and it took away the kicking game a little bit more because whenever he went matched stance — righty versus righty — Alex started chewing up the calf. When he went open stance, Alex threw one hard body kick.
If I’m in Jiří’s camp, I’m staying open stance because it took away the calf kick, which seemed to be the best weapon until the kill shot, feinting a lot, keeping the pressure, mixing in the wrestling, but not being as reckless as when he went in at the end where he got clipped.
I think Jiří fought great in the first round — got him to the fence, fairly easy takedown, controlled on the top. I do think he can push the pressure a little more when he’s on top to force Alex into some bad positions rather than just staying a little conservative. Take advantage of those positions a little more to where maybe he gives up his back.
The biggest thing is to stay in an open stance.
Kyte: As always, it’s more about “do what you can do to minimize his weapons” rather than “avoid his stuff,” and so yeah, staying in an open stance as much as possible is a huge part of that.
Chartier: I think the best weapon (Pereira) had in that first fight was the calf kick — he even dropped him with it, tripped him a little bit — so now you’re not taking as much damage, and when you’re not getting hit as much, you’re not getting as frantic, rushing entries; there is more of a flow.
Kyte: It was a super-competitive fight right up until it ended.
Chartier: And even then, I felt it could have gone longer.
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Path to Victory for Each Fighter
Kyte: So I feel like we’ve touched on it a little here already, but what is the path to victory for each man?
Chartier: Based on what I saw in the first fight, I like the open stance look for Jiří — take away the calf kicks, keep the level changes, but don’t sit right in the pocket to where that left hook can hit you. You’re either in or you’re out; don’t hang around in that zone.
I think you’ve got to mix in the takedowns like he did in the first round of the first fight — touch him with your hands, get simple takedowns, but push the issue more on the ground. Don’t be complacent winning a round — assume you need to finish him and push Alex a little more to make him work there because that’s gonna take more sting off his punches later in the fight because you’re gonna make him grapple more and he’s not gonna be as quick.
Kyte: And for Pereira?
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Chartier: Same things as you did last fight — manage distance, attack the body if it’s open stance, and if it’s same stance, chew up the calf… and stay off the fence.
Both guys had more success when they were moving forward, so whoever can control the cage should have an advantage.
Kyte: Pereira is such a weird guy to break down and talk about in some ways because it’s been so — simple isn’t quite the right word because he’s technically sharp and fundamentally sound, but none of these fights have been master classes in tactics or strategy or approach.
He’s a giant human being, he’s got a ton of power, and he’s super-technical, and when he hits you, that’s it, which makes it hard to break him down.
X Factor
Kyte: If there were one thing that was going to significantly impact how this fight plays out — that swings it in one direction or the other — what would it be?
Chartier: So I’m really interested in the stances, clearly.
If Jiří decides to play with the stances, I think he’ll have more success if he stays open stance, but if he ever does match stances, it’s who is going to get off with the calf kick first?
If they are matching stances, it’s who can chew up the other person’s calf first? I think that person will get on it and build momentum with that in a five-round fight. They both showed in the last fight that they can land it, so who goes back to that and who establishes dominance with it?
You don’t usually see two guys killing each other’s calf — usually one guy gets up on it and they build momentum; they establish dominance there and the other guy tries to avoid it or ends up eating it, so it will be interesting to see who is more active with those kicks if they’re matching stances.
Kyte: Who does the rematch favor, if it favors anybody?
Chartier: I feel like has to favor Jiří because he felt like he got cheated out of the win last time — he didn’t really get finished, he wanted to the rematch right away, and he’s been thinking about this same guy since that fight back in November.
He’s been thinking about this opportunity for six, seven months now, so when he’s at training, he’s thinking about Alex, whereas Alex is thinking about other people. Obviously Jiří had the fight with (Aleksandar) Rakic, but…
Kyte: He went into the fight with Rakic to get back to Pereira.
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Chartier: Exactly, and Pereira wasn’t fighting anyone to get back to Jiří. He’s open to fighting whoever, taking short-notice fights.
While it is a short-notice fight for both of them, I always feel like it favors the grapplers in short-notice fights because they’re generally grappling more in camp – offensively grappling more than the strikers do, so you’re more in shape. I know they’re both strikers, but Jiří has more grappling and the grappling advantage in my opinion.
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Jiří won the first round (of the first fight) and there might be a little, “We got away with one there; let’s move on” from Alex and them. Now you’re going back in with a guy that beat you for eight or nine minutes the first time.
Kyte: For sure, but it’s also a huge positive for Pereira that makes him so dangerous is that he needs 30 seconds, he can turn a fight in 30 seconds.
It’ll be interesting.
One Coaching Curiosity
Kyte: What’s the one coaching point you’re paying close attention to in this fight?
Chartier: I think I’ve already said it and been really focused on it — how does Jiří’s team handle the matching stances or open stances? I’m really interested to see if they’ve picked up anything off that because, to me, it was really obvious that when they were open stance, Jiří was a little safer.
But if you’re Alex’s team, do they see, “If we’re open stance, we should rip the body, because we had success with that last time.”
Does either side take anything off that? I’m interested to see how they approach that first round from a stance standpoint; that’s really the thing I’m most curious about this time. From the outside looking in, it was really compelling, but maybe they don’t put much value into it.
Kyte: I’m so curious to see if — we always keep saying, “You’ve got to get in there and grapple with Pereira” because you can neutralize so many of the weapons, that’s what I want to see.
Procházka is never going to be a guy that just blasts doubles and is only looking for takedowns, but we know he has the takedown available to him, so does he look to it more? Does he get to it more?
For me, it’s try to get one early and see what you can do with it because if you can keep him down, that’s time he’s not landing, and makes him tired and everything else. If you get the first, go looking for another, and so on, because that opens up everything else.
Chartier: Yeah, but it’s easier said than done.
Kyte: Absolutely, which is what makes it fun!
UFC 303: Pereira vs Procházka 2 took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 29, 2024. See the Final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!