Los Angeles — Former light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka earned himself a Performance of the Night bonus, and returned to the win column, with a knockout (technical knockout) of fellow ex-champ Jamahal Hill on Saturday’s UFC 311 main card.
It’s a performance that the Czech, a former RIZIN champion before jumping to the UFC, was quite happy with, given he showed he was ready to win the fight by any means necessary.
Speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press, Prochazka (35-5-1) explained that he was prepared to win by “points, but also be ready to end it [by] knockout. I was ready for both, and that was the change that I wanted to show.”
“I don’t need to press myself and be hurried for a knockout. 100% knockout, I want a knockout, but be ready for everything. [To] make points, not make points, catch the opponent at the right times, seriously, not so seriously make contact, feel good in the fight. Feel good. This is something that I achieved.”
After the win, Prochazka called for a third fight with Alex Pereira, who he has lost to twice previously. Coincidentally, Pereira was announced on Saturday as the headliner for UFC 313 in March, where he’ll take on Magomed Ankalaev. Could serving as a back-up on that card be an opion?
“Good idea,” Prochazka said when asked about that possibility – only to then shoot it down. “No, I don’t like to be a back-up. Because it’s every time, weird, you can fight or not, but you still prepared. No, I want to make good preparation, and then to face, like I said, Alex Pereira a third time.”
As for the rather nasty eye poke that Hill landed in Saturday’s fight, “I still feel that right now,” admitted Prochazka. There was never any thought of ending the fight early on his part however.
“There is no way to stop the fight because of [an] eye poke. I’ve got one more eye,” he joked. “So no. We’re here for a fight, to win, to win the fight. I know there is the rules and all these things, but this is the true sport of man. The fight. And you’re fighting with eyes, no eyes, if the opponent gets you to the balls or not, it doesn’t matter. For me, it’s fight to the end. There has to be one result, one winner, and one who’s not.”
At weigh-in day, Jiri Prochazka was accompanied on stage by Ashly McGarity, who is battling cancer and inspired the UFC star to shave his head in solidarity (McGarity is undergoing chemotherapy, forcing her to shed her own locks). She was in the stands on Saturday for Prochazka’s fight.
“I want to give something back, and this is something that, right now in this world, it’s really necessary to be connected,” Prochazka said of having her alongside him. “To be together, to fight together with someone, and overcome these things together.”
Watch the full UFC 311 post-fight press conference with Jiri Prochazka above.
