UFC 295

 UFC celebrates its 30-year anniversary in one of sport's most hallowed halls. UFC 295 takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday with  Jiri Prochazka vs. Alex Pereira atop the marquee and Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall in the co-main event.

UFC 295 suffered a major blow in the weeks leading to the event. Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic -- arguably the greatest light heavyweight and heavyweight champions, respectively -- was the original main event with the heavyweight championship on the line. 

But Jones suffered an injury in training, forcing him off the card and delaying the dream fight to next year. Prochazka vs. Pereira was elevated from co-headliner to the marquee with the vacant light heavyweight title on the line.

Former UFC middleweight champion Pereira punched his ticket to the light heavyweight title after a successful 205-pound debut against former champ Jan Blachowicz. 

He will meet Prochazka, who never lost the championship but was forced to vacate it last year due to injury. Pereira is more motivated than usual as he looks to avenge his mentor Glover Teixeira, who lost the title to Prochazka in CBS Sports' 2022 Fight of the Year. Prochazka and Pereira have had remarkably fast rises in the UFC. They look to win their second UFC title in four and seven Octagon appearances, respectively.

"It's what we talked about before, skills and experience. He has high-level experience in kickboxing," Prochazka told CBS Sports. "The specialty is that he turns his kickboxing to an MMA style.

 He found a way to do that. Everybody has some style that they fight with. I have my style. For this fight with Alex, I had to change a little bit. Especially after my last fight with Glover. There were a lot of mistakes that I had to change."

 

A heavyweight tilt was added to the main card lineup in the absence of Jones vs. Miocic. Sergei Pavlovich was always the intended backup for the original main event, but he won't fight Miocic either. UFC president Dana White announced Pavlovich vs. Aspinall for the interim heavyweight title instead. It may not be as star-studded, but Pavlovich vs. Aspinall is arguably the better fight between two future pillars of the heavyweight division.

The undercard fills out with some of the lighter weight classes getting showcase opportunities. Benoit Sant-Denis is set to take on hard-hitting Matt Frevola in a lightweight contest. Top strawweights Mackenzie Dern and Jessica Andrade are set to slug it out. And Featherweights open the PPV festivities when Pat Sabatini battles Diego Lopes. 

Below is the complete fight card for UFC 295 along with the latest odds. Check back all week long for the latest news, features and other content around this massive event.

UFC 295 fight card, odds

Alex Pereira -130 vs. Jiri Prochazka +110, vacant light heavyweight title

Tom Aspinall -110 vs. Sergei Pavlovich -110, interim heavyweight title

Benoit Saint-Denis -210 vs. Matt Frevola +175, lightweights

Mackenzie Dern -190 vs. Jessica Andrade +160, women's strawweights

Pat Sabatini -130 vs. Diego Lopes +110, featherweights

Steve Erceg -250 vs. Matt Schnell +205, flyweights

Loopy Godinez -150 vs. Tabatha Ricci +125, women's strawweights

Nazim Sadykhov -140 vs. Viacheslav Borschev +120, lightweights

Mateusz Rebecki -165 vs. Nurullo Aliev +140, lightweights

Jamal Emmers -290 vs. Dennis Buzukja +230, featherweights

Jared Gordon -180 vs. Mark Madsen +155, lightweights

John Castaneda -165 vs. Kyung Ho Kang +140, bantamweights

Joshua Van -230 vs. Kevin Borjas +190, flyweights

UFC 295 info

Date: Nov. 11

Location: Madison Square Garden -- New York City

Start time: 10 p.m. ET (Main card) 

How to watch: ESPN+ PPV