Tag: Jiri Prochazka

Ji?í Procházka Explains How Second UFC Title Reign Would Be Different: ‘I Didn’t Really Realize…’

Ji?í Procházka is aware of the mistakes he made during a brief stint as UFC light heavyweight champion in 2022. Procházka enjoyed a quick ascent to top spot on MMA’s biggest stage, capturing UFC gold in just his third fight in the promotion. After knockouts of Volkan Oezdemir and Dominick Reyes, he submitted Glover Teixeira […]

Ji?í Procházka is aware of the mistakes he made during a brief stint as UFC light heavyweight champion in 2022.

Procházka enjoyed a quick ascent to top spot on MMA’s biggest stage, capturing UFC gold in just his third fight in the promotion. After knockouts of Volkan Oezdemir and Dominick Reyes, he submitted Glover Teixeira to avoid certain defeat on the scorecards in Singapore.

But the era of “BJP” was a short one, not reaching his planned first defense against Teixeira after a shoulder injury forced the Czech star to vacate the belt.

The 32-year-old has since failed in two bids to regain champ status against Alex Pereira, with two knockout losses to “Poatan” sandwiching a memorable bounce-back performance against Aleksandar Raki? at UFC 300 this past April.

Like that result accomplished, Procházka will be looking to put in a display worthy of another crack at recapturing the title when he meets a fellow ex-champion in Jamahal Hill at UFC 311 on Jan. 11.

During an interview with MMA Fighting‘s Mike Heck, Procházka looked ahead to what a victory over “Sweet Dreams” would bring, reiterating his desire for a third shot at blemishing Pereira’s perfect light heavyweight record.

And were he to succeed in that ambition, “BJP” is confident he knows how to better approach a second reign.

“Maybe first time, when I won, I didn’t really realize that it was a big, a big thing in my life, and I was not so — like I say — grateful for that,” Procházka said. “I took that like, automatically, I will be the champion. OK, I’m the champion, and that’s all, yeah. I [didn’t have] these feelings to be humble, grateful in that.

“So I said to myself, ‘I want to go this way one more time,’ not just one more time, but I want to go there, take this belt, take that position of the best man in the light heavyweight [division], and one more time, but grateful. Be humble. And really appreciate that moment. Really appreciate the life that gave you this chance to fight for that again. And right now, I’m in this process. This is what I feel right now.”

Procházka features in one of the most prominent and crucial undercard bouts at UFC 311, a pay-per-view that will be headlined by highly anticipated title defenses for lightweight champ Islam Makhachev and bantamweight kingpin Merab Dvalishvili.

Ji?í Procházka Shrugs Off Jamahal Hill’s Trash Talk Ahead Of UFC 311: ‘My Actions Will Talk’

Ji?í Procházka doesn’t appear to be in the mood to entertain Jamahal Hill’s attempts at getting under his skin ahead of their upcoming bout. Procházka is gearing up for a high-stakes showdown with Hill at UFC 311, scheduled for Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. Both Procházka and Hill are coming off […]

Ji?í Procházka doesn’t appear to be in the mood to entertain Jamahal Hill’s attempts at getting under his skin ahead of their upcoming bout.

Procházka is gearing up for a high-stakes showdown with Hill at UFC 311, scheduled for Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.

Both Procházka and Hill are coming off devastating knockout defeats at the hands of reigning UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira in their last Octagon appearances. Since their bout was booked, “Sweet Dreams” has made some bold comments about the Czech fighter’s style. Hill went so far as to compare their losses to Pereira, claiming that while he was caught accidentally at UFC 300, Procházka was “done bad” at UFC 303.

During a recent interview with MMA Fighting, “Denisa” mentioned that he’s aware of Hill badmouthing him but has no intention of responding in kind to the American’s antics.

“I don’t care what he’s saying because it’s not just primarily about me, it just shows what what is in his head,” Procházka said. “Man, I don’t care about what other people say about me because when you know how this works, how to work the mental of the human body, so how people can speak about others and why they speak about others, especially when he don’t know me personally. He knows just my fighting style and in that, he’s totally out with his commentary.”

Procházka went on to explain why he chooses not to engage in trash talk, stressing that he’s more than willing to settle the score with Hill once the Octagon gates closes.

“So that’s why I don’t care about these trash talks because. Do you know how the true confident man, a real man [looks] like? He don’t know. He don’t need to say some sh*t about others, to speak about his strong sides and about the weaknesses in his opponent because he’s self-confident too much to not do that… I’m going there, I will show my best, and I will show that to all the world that I’m the best, and that’s all. My actions will talk.”

Prior to his latest defeat to Pereira in a short-notice title fight this past June, Procházka secured a second-round finish over Aleksandar Raki? at UFC 300.

Meanwhile, Hill’s loss to “Poatan” marked his return to the Octagon after a memorable title win over Glover Teixeira at UFC 283 in January 2023. “Sweet Dreams” was forced to vacate his title in July 2023 due to an injury.

Ji?í Procházka Shrugs Off Jamahal Hill’s Trash Talk Ahead Of UFC 311: ‘My Actions Will Talk’

Ji?í Procházka doesn’t appear to be in the mood to entertain Jamahal Hill’s attempts at getting under his skin ahead of their upcoming bout. Procházka is gearing up for a high-stakes showdown with Hill at UFC 311, scheduled for Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. Both Procházka and Hill are coming off […]

Ji?í Procházka doesn’t appear to be in the mood to entertain Jamahal Hill’s attempts at getting under his skin ahead of their upcoming bout.

Procházka is gearing up for a high-stakes showdown with Hill at UFC 311, scheduled for Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.

Both Procházka and Hill are coming off devastating knockout defeats at the hands of reigning UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira in their last Octagon appearances. Since their bout was booked, “Sweet Dreams” has made some bold comments about the Czech fighter’s style. Hill went so far as to compare their losses to Pereira, claiming that while he was caught accidentally at UFC 300, Procházka was “done bad” at UFC 303.

During a recent interview with MMA Fighting, “Denisa” mentioned that he’s aware of Hill badmouthing him but has no intention of responding in kind to the American’s antics.

“I don’t care what he’s saying because it’s not just primarily about me, it just shows what what is in his head,” Procházka said. “Man, I don’t care about what other people say about me because when you know how this works, how to work the mental of the human body, so how people can speak about others and why they speak about others, especially when he don’t know me personally. He knows just my fighting style and in that, he’s totally out with his commentary.”

Procházka went on to explain why he chooses not to engage in trash talk, stressing that he’s more than willing to settle the score with Hill once the Octagon gates closes.

“So that’s why I don’t care about these trash talks because. Do you know how the true confident man, a real man [looks] like? He don’t know. He don’t need to say some sh*t about others, to speak about his strong sides and about the weaknesses in his opponent because he’s self-confident too much to not do that… I’m going there, I will show my best, and I will show that to all the world that I’m the best, and that’s all. My actions will talk.”

Prior to his latest defeat to Pereira in a short-notice title fight this past June, Procházka secured a second-round finish over Aleksandar Raki? at UFC 300.

Meanwhile, Hill’s loss to “Poatan” marked his return to the Octagon after a memorable title win over Glover Teixeira at UFC 283 in January 2023. “Sweet Dreams” was forced to vacate his title in July 2023 due to an injury.

Ji?í Procházka Gives Latest Update On Postponed Middleweight Plans

Ji?í Procházka has recently spoken about a potential move to middleweight in the future which caught a lot of fans by surprise given his size. The former light heavyweight champion is still one of the top contenders at 205-pounds with his only losses in the UFC coming to Alex Pereira. With his next outing being […]

Ji?í Procházka has recently spoken about a potential move to middleweight in the future which caught a lot of fans by surprise given his size. The former light heavyweight champion is still one of the top contenders at 205-pounds with his only losses in the UFC coming to Alex Pereira.

With his next outing being confirmed for UFC 311 in January where he will face Jamahal Hill in a clash of former titleholders that has been a long time coming, it looks like 185-pounds is on the backburner for now. Given the amount of contenders that are currently at middleweight, it only makes sense for him to continue campaigning in his natural weight class.

In a recent interview with James Lynch for Sportskeeda, Procházka spoke about his future at the weight class below and why he has chosen to stay at light heavyweight for the time being. He says that he wanted to make a significant change following his loss to “Poatan” at UFC 303 but he has found ways to do that which don’t mean that he has to leave the division entirely.

Ahead of his return to take on “Sweet Dreams”, he believes that he still has unfinished business to attend to at 205 before he thinks about cutting a bit more weight.

“I thought about that a lot but it was like decision to change something, to make a big change because I know my body is working really, really well when I don’t eat a lot so I’m keeping that but still. I’ve got the power, I got the strength and I have the endurance and all the abilities and everything to beat the guys in the light heavyweight so for me, this is the best. Maybe I will jump to the middleweight, maybe or I will jump to middleweight, but first, I said to myself I want to win the light heavyweight title. That’s all what’s on my mind right now and win the next fight especially.”

Jamahal Hill Debates Who Got KO’d Worse By Alex Pereira With Ji?í Procházka: ‘You Got Dominated…I Got Caught!’

The hype for one of UFC 311’s most anticipated bouts is underway, as former light heavyweight champions Jamahal Hill and Ji?í Procházka traded barbs over who had it worse in their unsuccessful attempts to reclaim the gold earlier this year. Both Hill and Procházka never lost the championship inside the Octagon. They also challenged Alex […]

The hype for one of UFC 311’s most anticipated bouts is underway, as former light heavyweight champions Jamahal Hill and Ji?í Procházka traded barbs over who had it worse in their unsuccessful attempts to reclaim the gold earlier this year.

Both Hill and Procházka never lost the championship inside the Octagon. They also challenged Alex Pereira earlier this year in attempts to claim the gold but were easily disposed of.

“Sweet Dreams” challenged Pereira at UFC 300, getting dropped and finished in the very first round. “BJP,” meanwhile, was rocked and dropped at the end of the first round in his UFC 303 rematch with “Poatan” before being finished seconds into the second frame.

Procházka recently brought about his criticism of Hill’s fighting style, putting his fighting IQ into question. Hill responded through a YouTube video, taking shots at several of his light heavyweight counterparts, including a response to his upcoming Czech opponent.

Jamahal Hill vs. Ji?í Procházka: Who Got KO’d Worse By Alex Pereira?

“We had the same opponent in our last fight, right? In your last performance, you got dominated and knocked out,” Hill said. “You got dominated, and I got caught. There’s a huge difference. You’ve even got your ponytail leaning to the left. I hope you wear that ponytail in our fight so I can lean it back to the right for you.

“We can compare every performance — while I put on dominant performances, you just survive and scrape by with a win. We’re not the same.”

Procházka won the light heavyweight championship with a submission of Glover Teixeira at UFC 275. However, he vacated the title by the end of 2022 without making a defense due to an injury.

Hill went on to capture the belt with his own victory over Teixeira at UFC 283. Hill, however, was forced to vacate the title, too, after his own injury. That allowed for the initial fight between Pereira and Procházka that headlined UFC 295, with the Brazilian finishing “BJP” there as well.

Ji?í Procházka Takes Aim At UFC 311 Opponent Jamahal Hill: ‘In Your last Fight…’

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Ji?í Procházka hasn’t forgotten some past remarks from upcoming opponent Jamahal Hill. Procházka announced his return to action last week, taking to social media to reveal a clash with fellow former titleholder Hill for the year-opening UFC 311 pay-per-view in Los Angeles. The bout will mark both men’s first appearances […]

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Ji?í Procházka hasn’t forgotten some past remarks from upcoming opponent Jamahal Hill.

Procházka announced his return to action last week, taking to social media to reveal a clash with fellow former titleholder Hill for the year-opening UFC 311 pay-per-view in Los Angeles.

The bout will mark both men’s first appearances since respective knockout losses to reigning 205-pound kingpin Alex Pereira. While “Sweet Dreams” was stopped in one round at UFC 300, “BJP” narrowly made it to a second frame at UFC 303 before being violently stopped by “Poatan” for a second time.

Despite his own setback to the Brazilian, Hill had plenty to say about Procházka’s loss during International Fight Week. And the Czech star evidently still has that on his mind…

“I’m really looking forward for my next fight,” Procházka said in a recent video posted on X. “Jamahal, don’t speak about my performances, fight IQ, and all these things, because in your last fight, you didn’t show (anything), really.”

And it wasn’t just Hill who found himself in the firing line.

Procházka also sent shots the way of Magomed Ankalaev, who is expected to be next in line for a shot at Pereira’s gold after defending his spot on the ladder opposite Aleksandar Raki? at UFC 308 last month.

“This same guy, Ankalaev, in your last three fights, you showed totally nothing, so stay on the ground,” Procházka said.

Ankalaev is yet to face either Procházka or Hill. Regardless of the result of his expected challenge against Pereira, a showdown with one of the two could await him soon after, whether as defending champion or contender working his way back to the gold.