Las Vegas, NV — Former UFC light heavyweight champ Jiri Prochazka is clearly ready to go ahead of his return at UFC 300.
In fact he’s so amped up for his fight with Aleksandar Rakic, Prochazka (29-4-1) has had to reign himself in a little, he told media outlets including Cageside Press during this week’s UFC 300 media day.
“I feel great. I have to keep it down a little bit right now, because I feel like there is too much energy, especially when I see the cage where I won the Reyes [fight],” Prochazka stated. “When I feel that energy, it brings me to the action. It takes me to the action. So I have to be calm.”
Rakic has been doing plenty of promotion ahead of the bout, claiming the fight is to declare the “King of Europe.” Prochazka is a native of the Czech Republic, while Rakic hails from Austria. There’s no national rivalry for Jiri Prochazka, however, and he’s not buying into the King of Europe concept.
“He’s talking too much. So okay. It’s a normal fight. For me, it’s the next fight. For me, it’s not to be the King of Europe, because I’m not looking to be the King of Europe. I’m looking to be the King of the World. Not the King of the World, but the champion. The top, the edge. And I’m able to show that this Saturday.”
Rakic also labeled Jiri Prochazka a “fake” Samurai during his own media day appearance on Wednesday. Prochazka appeared taken aback.
“He said that here. What did he say?” questioned the former champ, before giving his response.
“Aleksander is talking too much. Like I said, he’s talking too much. He don’t know me. And he will know me in the cage. Who I am. Where I am able to go. How [far] I can go to take a win,” Prochazka predicted. “He don’t know me personally. If you don’t know somebody personally, how can you speak about them, [about] something? Whatever.”
Prochazka clarified that he’s never called himself a “Samurai,” (it’s a label fans have applied over the years, thanks to the Czech fighter’s lifestyle and approach to fighting).
“I never said about myself, ‘I’m a Samurai’ or whatever. Because I respect all the warriors from all history. And I’m sharing with the people, with all the world, every time, the best ideas, best thoughts I ever have which helped me to improve myself on the way, to keep myself on the way,” Prochazka continued. “And he, he [won’t] like that. He don’t know nothing about me. How I’m living. I can’t say what I sacrificed because I accepted the way. When you accept the way, you will like whatever, do whatever. That’s it. So he’s talking sh*t.”
Prochazka, who notoriously lives a simple existence without running water or gas and once spent three days in a dark room without food, later clarified that despite Rakic’s trash talk, there’s no added motivation to prove a point during their UFC 300 match-up.
“No. I’m not fighting because somebody’s saying something. I’m fighting because I want to be the best version of myself. What he’s talking, he’s talking. He has to prove that I’m what he’s talking [about]. I will prove just that I’m the better version than my last fight. And win [over] this guy who’s trying to be tough, trying to be a tough gangster, but he’s a normal sportsman.”
Watch the full UFC 300 media day appearance by Jiri Prochazka above.
