Last week’s UFC 261 in Jacksonville, Fla., featured three championship fights, each of which ended via finish, much to the delight of the capacity crowd at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.

This week, they return to Las Vegas, where light-heavyweight contenders will do battle at the UFC Apex. The small cage will encourage confrontation between these two sizable sluggers as well as the other three bouts that feature middleweight and light-heavyweight combatants.

Light heavyweight, Main Event

Fifth-ranked Prochazka is a relative newcomer to the division’s top 10. The 28-year-old Czech fighter will be shorter by a touch, but will hold a three-inch reach advantage.

Prochazka’s fighting base is Muay Thai, which means he is a striker/kicker with active elbows and knees. Prochazka, 1-0 in the UFC, is not a refined striker, but he is an aggressive, powerful one who has been past the first round just twice in his last nine bouts.

Prochazka relies on his size, forward pressure and profuse power to bludgeon opponents and force them into a toe-to-toe throwdown. He has had success with that simple approach.

Entering this bout, Prochazka’s shortcomings are his lack of UFC experience, the capability of his previous opponents faced other than Volkan Oezdemir and the fact that he is traveling to the United States for his first event outside Europe.

Reyes fought, and came razor close to beating, champion Jon Jones two fights back. In his last outing, for the light-heavyweight title, he faced Jan Blachowicz. And while Blachowicz earned that finish fairly, it was surely the poorest performance of Reyes’ career.

The southpaw Reyes is an inch taller than Prochazka, but will give up three inches in reach. He’s a deft, athletic striker with a blue belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu, which may come in handy should he have the opportunity to drag Prochaska to the floor, tire the monster out and sap him of his will.

Reyes enters desperate to return to No. 1 contender status and make amends for his last outing, which he readily admits was unsatisfactory. Reyes will be truly tested here, which will tell us whether he is a legitimate top-five talent in the division or not.

Pick: Reyes +115

Total for this fight: 1.5 Over -155

Featherweight, Co-Main Event

These are two unranked fighters who have a real opportunity to break into the top 15 of the division.

Chikadze is the taller, younger, longer man. His speed, movement and precision striking will be accentuated as he strives to keep his opponent at distance and on the end of his volume striking. He’s not overly dangerous or powerful, but he is a volume fighter and with time he has the ability to finish.

Versed in BJJ and with a competent stand-up game, Swanson will need to earn his way inside Chikadze in order to negate his length and soften Chikadze up with dirty boxing and inside body work. Should this fight fall to the floor, Swanson will hold the advantage.

Swanson is long on grit, mettle, experience and guile and is the more mature, experienced fighter, but he is 37 and fighting a man who holds physical and speed/quickness advantages. This is a well-matched fight.

Total for this fight: 2.5 Over -200