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How did Alex Pereira beat Jiří Procházka in their rematch? He hit him. A lot.
He hit him when he stood southpaw.
He hit him when he dropped for a tackle.
He hit him when he stood orthodox.
He hit him when he circled.
He hit him when he rushed in.
He hit him when he missed.
He hit him when he feinted.
He hit him when he blocked.
He hit him when he clinched.
He hit him when he stood sideways.
He hit him when he attacked.
He hit him when the round began.
Pereira's answer to everything Procházka did was to hit him because Pereira is very good at hitting, and Procházka is hittable. Procházka's style is not built on superior defense but superior offense. Unfortunately for Procházka, Pereira has better offense. Even when Procházka blocked, Pereira's punches were powerful enough to break through. Instead of sprawling to defend against takedowns, Pereira's response was to punch Procházka in the face.
Procházka's defense relies on head movement, feints, and offense. Despite what online commentators say, he added to his defense for this fight. Against Pereira's firepower, Procházka had to use his arms to block. It's not that he dropped his hands for this fight. No one needs to study tape to see that Procházka keeps his hands low, just as no one needs to research tape to know Dustin Poirier will always mess with his shorts. So rather than something being exposed or Procházka being more careless than usual in this fight, the opposite occurred. He was more cautious and defensive. It just didn't matter.
Keeping your hands low in MMA is not a cardinal sin but logical because of takedowns. This also causes fighters to stand further away. MMA gloves also don't provide the same coverage as boxing gloves. If keeping your hands up doesn't help as much as in boxing, and since you're standing further away where you can see the entire body, some fighters prioritize unobstructed vision. For MMA enthusiasts, you can't understand MMA from the lens of boxing. Even if you did, keeping your hands low is even more normal in boxing. Using multiple lenses for MMA overcomplicates things.
People act as if Procházka didn't also get knocked out in the second round in their last fight or that he gets beat up in most of his fights until he wins. He was never a defensive wizard who dropped the ball in this fight. He was never known for his defense but tried to be more controlled and well-rounded in this fight because he understood Pereira was the deadlier striker. It's just that he made all those improvements but looked worse because Pereira was now used to him.
Procházka also took a lot of damage two months ago against Aleksandar Rakić and took a nasty left hook at the very end of round one in this fight. There's also the long history of damage he's taken. The reason he wasn't getting finished before wasn't because he had stellar defense but because he had stellar durability. However, Pereira's offense is greater than that durability.
In the final stanza, Pereira delayed his kick. Procházka blocked but too early, so his arms swung down, leaving his head open. Pereira also initiated the trajectory of the kick to the body. Procházka has long enough arms to block the body and the head simultaneously. However, if he blocks too early, the force of his block will make his arms travel away from his body, leaving his head open.
Pereira landed with the side of his foot because he led with his knee toward the body without extending his leg, and then he snapped it up. Unfortunately for Procházka, that delay meant Pereira snapped it up after the block. It's also unusual for a switch kick to come in two parts. Generally, after a switch, MMA fighters fling their entire leg up. Procházka tends to snap kicks like this. Which is to say, it's not that this was some four-dimensional chess match where Pereira planned all this out. It's simpler than that. Pereira can do everything Procházka can do except better, faster, and with more power. That's it. The analysis for this fight is as simple as it was for Pereira to win.
For Liberation Martial Arts, striking is simple: look and hit. That doesn't make striking easy, but this gives us a clear-cut aim in how we ought to train.
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Alex Pereira Hit Jiří Procházka a Lot