Jiri Prochazka is a really weird guy. He probably always would have been, but in an era where MMA has become mainstream, gentrified, a 6-foot 3-inch tall light heavyweight from the Czech Republic who has a big bushy beard, a haircut that combines shaved back and sides with a thick topknot that he nicknames "the antenna" and a fight style that has him sliding around the Octagon like Dr. B from Tekken, Prochazka is absolutely the most unique fighter in the UFC.

When he arrived in the UFC in 2020, he had a record of 25-3-1 and was the biggest star in Rizin FF, Japan's biggest MMA company. As with other big name transfers – i.e. Ben Askren from ONE Championship, Michael Chandler from Bellator MMA – he was immediately thrown into the fire and faced Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 251. Prochazka knocked the ranked fighter out easily in the second round and got himself a place in the top 10.

Now, 10 months later, he was set to face Dominic Reyes in the main event of a UFC Vegas show. This is the real test to see if Prochazka is as good as his reputation. Reyes came into the bout with an incredible record of 12-2. Undefeated for 12 and then two back-to-back losses, one to then-champion Jon Jones and the next to current-champion Jan Blachowicz.

Prochazka took Reyes' early offense in his stride – literally. In his obscure stance, he keeps his hands low, his legs apart and, somehow, doesn't seem to respond to damage. Reyes hits like a freight train and, in these opening stages, it looked like they were doing nothing to him.

Prochazka's first assault, an uppercut, left-right, front kick combination that began from a sort of crouching position was mostly blocked by Reyes. However, it was clear from the body language that it was a surprise.

Reyes quickly followed this with an ugly takedown, likely working on the assumption that Prochazka couldn't do much damage from his back. He was right, and the Czech fighter did everything he could to power out and get back to his feet.

He then went headhunting and clocked Reyes with a flurry of punches, and just when Prochazka thought he was getting the advantage, Reyes stunned him with a short left. That broke the seal, this was now a brawl.

With UFC 261, the UFC has begun hosting shows with full crowds again. While the noise of the fans may have made this even more exciting, the sharp smacking sounds that each punch and kick made would have been lost. There's no doubt Reyes and Prochazka are two of the toughest men in the sport but the volume and force behind every impact was amplified to a sickening degree in the relative silence of the UFC Apex facility.

For the final 90 seconds, Prochazka fought Reyes by laying in hooks and body kicks from an almost diagonal position, Reyes would then take a few to get in line and smash his opponent with traditional kickboxing. In defense, Reyes was blocking and moving laterally with his back to the cage but Prochazka was slipping, sliding and sometimes cleanly taking blows to the chin; he only puts his hands up to attack.

The bell cut off Prochazka in the middle of a Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots combo. Round 2 began as if there wasn't even a break.

The combos had stopped for Reyes and were replaced by huge power shots to the body. With blood pouring out of his nose, he looked like he'd been through a war already and was hoping to get it over with as soon as possible. Prochazka, again, seemed unfazed. He didn't slow down at all – he sped up.

He was back to headhunting and Reyes was too hurt to keep up. In Round 1, it was punch for punch. In Round 2, Prochazka had the ratio advantage. The amount of strikes was too much for Reyes, especially now that the combinations were ending with front kicks that kept knocking him into the cage, throwing off his tempo.

And yet he stayed in it. With a little over two minutes left, he stunned Prochazka with a left and Jake Roberts DDT'd him into a guillotine choke. He was, unfortunately, too tired to hold it and Prochazka broke out into a clumsy ground and pound.

Reyes finally escaped, scrambled up and put his back to the cage. Prochazka followed and caught him off guard with a spinning back elbow, something only two other men have ever done in UFC history. Reyes was knocked spark out and collapsed onto the top of his head, his neck buckling underneath.

Prochazka didn't just win by KO, it was one of the most vicious the UFC has ever seen and it came after 76 significant strikes that Reyes weathered without conceding a single knockdown. Jiri Prochazka is undeniably unorthodox – he's now undeniably a threat to the whole light heavyweight division.