Las Vegas, NV — A smart game plan, and William Knight’s lack of offense, led to Marcin Prachnio putting on a kicking clinic in their UFC Vegas 69 light heavyweight fight.
Afterwards, Prachnio’s foot was looking worse for the wear. Visibly swollen, the extremity looked painful to walk on — though after a three-round unanimous decision win, Prachnio was in good spirits, and not overly conjured about the injury.
“It will be good. It’s not the first time I’ve had something with my body,” Prachnio (16-6) told media outlets including Cageside Press. “I’ve trained 22 years almost. I’ve had many injuries. It’s not the first, it’s not the last. It will be good.”
Asked if the foot was his worst injury to date, “No, for sure not,” answered Prachnio. Nor does he believe the foot was broken. “No.”
Despite Knight’s power, Prachnio’s game plan, to keep him on the outside, paid off. “I didn’t get any big shots from this heavy guy,” Pracnio said. Later, he admitted that Knight’s power was a concern. “Heavy hands, heavy guy, you have to be careful with that.”
Prachnio actually expected Knight to spend more time at center. “To be honest I thought he was going to be more in the middle of the ring,” he stated. “He didn’t find his reach, probably. It worked perfect for me.”
As for the leg attacks — Knight’s lead leg was giving him serious issues by the end of the fight, with the hulking light heavyweight massaging it at times — while Prachnio worked on them in training, the opportunity presented itself during the fight.
“In the first two kicks, I saw him, he was like ‘oh it’s nothing.’ So I know that it’s something. Everyone says it’s nothing when he gets hurt,” Pracnio said. “So I just kept kicking the leg, and then you could see in the third round, he almost couldn’t walk.”
His own movement helped keep Knight guessing, believes the Polish light heavyweight. That, he feels, is why Knight never managed to close the distance, despite his explosive strength.
“That surprised me, that’s what I just talked with my coach [about]. He said he couldn’t find his reach. I changed the distance all the time, and it was difficult for him to just do something, to go forward, to just throw some punches. Because when he maybe thinks ‘okay I’m going to throw it now,’ I was out already. So he was too late.”
Pracnio wasn’t the only one surprised. Those watching at home were baffled as to why the powerful Knight failed to throw more than a handful of strikes in the entire fight. And, despite his explosive potential, why he never really managed to close the distance.
Knight also had a few things to say during the fight. Prachnio believes that was designed to throw him off his game.
“He just tried to [distract] me, that was his plan I guess,” Prachnio explained. “I kept focus because I know it’s work, I just said in my mind, ‘okay, I’m not going to be [distracted] by you, from your talking. I’m just going to do what I do, and once I see you get hurt, I’m going to hurt you more.’ And then I kicked to the leg, I kicked to the head, and it was perfect.”
If all goes well, Marcin Prachnio hopes to return to action before summer.
“I would love to fight before the summer, it would be great. Just, let’s see with the foot. If it’s all good, then I would really like to fight before the summer. It would be great for me.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 69 post-fight media appearance by Marcin Prachnio above.
