Las Vegas — A Fight of the Night bonus, a Performance of the Night bonus, a key victory, and putting himself in position for a title shot: it was a massive night for Jiri Prochazka at UFC 320 on Saturday.
Prochazka’s victory over Khalil Rountree Jr. did not come easy, and he was clearly down two rounds when he stormed back with a violent, extended beatdown of the American in round three.
“I was too patient, and yeah, that was something I didn’t realize. I waited too much for a counter, too much waiting for a counter, because I thought that will be there,” Prochazka (32-5-1) admitted following the fight, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press. His thinking was “I’m on the place, I will catch him really clearly with the counter.” It didn’t turn out that way, however. “His technique and his attitude was just waiting for my attacks, good defense, and go back. Good defense, and go back. So I needed to change it, and I changed it in the third round.”
Something else changed in the third round, aside from his offensive approach: Jiri Prochazka discovered that yes, defense can work. “I started to believe in my defense, in my hands [being] up. I didn’t understand, that works. Hands up, and head movement. First time I connected [them] together, and it worked. So I’m happy. That was the thing in the third round that made me happy, why I’m happy. Because the first two rounds were bad.”
The victory is the second straight high-profile win for the Czech star, who previously stopped fellow ex-champ Jamahal Hill. Prochazka was later seen in the crowd watching the main event between Alex Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev, and appeared to be emotional when Pereira won that rematch.
“Win, lose, win, lose, whoever, but Alex and his team, Glover Teixeira and all these guys, we have a good relationship with those guys. Like with my team,” Prochazka noted, asked about why he was so invested in the UFC 320 main event. “I really wished him the win, because all this bullsh*t that Ankalaev wrote before, all this nonsense that he talked about himself and others— that was why I was happy. Because I saw a really angry Alex going forward through Ankalaev. That was something that I needed to be in my fight too, more pressure.”
The fact that Jiri Prochazka is being talked about for a third fight with Alex Pereira, just a week after Carlos Ulberg seemingly staked a claim to a title shot, is a testament to his exciting fighting style and popularity with fans. Down 0-2 in his career series with “Poatan,” there’s still a desire for a third fight among the fanbase. Prochazka believes he’ll get back to gold soon enough.
“I believe I’m in a position to get the belt. It doesn’t matter how, I will find a way,” he stated. “I will find a way.”
That path may be a tricky one. Pereira has been mulling a move to heavyweight, and hinted at a fight with Jon Jones following his UFC 320 win— a fight that had been all the talk dating back to last year. The newly re-crowned champ pulled back on a callout on Saturday, however, out of respect for Jones, whose brother Arthur passed away on Friday.
Would Prochazka be willing to fight Ulberg, should Pereira stray north? Only if a belt was on the line, it seems. “I just want to fight for the title. No matter who.”
Watch the full UFC 320 post-fight press conference with Jiri Prochazka above.
