Jiri Prochazka submits Glover Teixeira late to win UFC light heavyweight title

Jiri Prochazka hit Glover Teixeira with everything he had. Hard jabs, uppercuts, knees up the middle and combinations to the body.

Teixeira gave it all back and then some. He landed huge overhand rights and left hooks, took Prochazka down and opened up a gnarly cut with an elbow.

Both men took a career's worth of punishment in one of the most grueling, back-and-forth fights in MMA history. In the end, somehow, Prochazka grabbed on to an orthodox rear-naked choke in the final seconds and finished Teixeira via submission at 4:32 of the fifth and final round Saturday in the main event of UFC 275 in Singapore.

With the victory, Prochazka became the UFC light heavyweight champion. It was his first submission victory in the UFC and first overall since 2014. It was Teixeira's first career submission loss.

«It was a true war,» Prochazka said. «Glover is a true warrior. And I like that.»

Coming into the fight, ESPN had Teixeira ranked No. 8 on its list of the best pound-for-pound MMA fighters in the world. Teixeira was ranked No. 1 and Prochazka was No. 4 at light heavyweight.

Prochazka's submission was the second-latest finish in UFC championship history, behind Demetrious Johnson's 2015 armbar victory over Kyoji Horiguchi with just one second left in the fight. Prochazka is the first male fighter to win an undisputed UFC title within his first three fights since Brock Lesnar in 2008, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

Had Teixeira held on until the final bell, he would have won or the result would have been a split draw with Teixeira retaining the title. Judge Michael Bell had it 38-38 going into the fifth round, judge Ben Cartlidge had Teixeira up 39-37 going into the fifth and Clemens Warner had Teixeira ahead