Aleksandar Rakic has heard enough about Jiri Prochazka’s “fake samurai” persona.
Rakic will return to the Octagon for the first time since suffering a leg injury in the third round of his scrap with former champion Jan Blachowicz nearly two years ago. Another ex-titleholder in the light heavyweight division- Jiri Prochazka- will be standing in his way of a return to the win column this Saturday night.
Both fighters will be looking to bounce back from devastating losses when they throw hands in the UFC 300 featured prelim.
Days ahead of their encounter at the promotion’s landmark event in Las Vegas, Rakic had some choice words for his opponent — particularly, Prochazka’s affinity for the way of the samurai.
“He’s a fake samurai because you cannot become a samurai after just reading a book,” Rakic said at Wednesday’s UFC media event. “If you’re a samurai, you need to live [like] this for a long time and not for the last 2-3 years. So that’s why I said he’s a fake samurai.”
Aleksandar Rakic on Jiri Prochazka: 'I said he’s a fake samurai, because you cannot become a samurai after just reading a book.' pic.twitter.com/s381XkUr5w
— Oscar Willis (@oscarswillis) April 10, 2024
It’s not the first time that Rakic has taken aim at Prochazka’s appreciation for the ancient Japanese warriors. ‘Rocket’ dubbed ‘Denisa’ a “clown” during a 2021 interview with MMA Junkie before saying: “I don’t care about him and this fake samurai sh*t.”
Jiri Prochazka Responds to ‘Fake Samurai’ Comment from Aleksandar Rakic
Made aware of Aleksandar Rakic’s comments during his own time with media members on Wednesday, Jiri Prochazka offered a response to his UFC 300 opponent.
“He’s talking too much. He doesn’t know me, and he will know me in the cage. Who I am. Where I am able to go. How true I can go to take a win,” Prochazka said.
“He doesn’t know me personally. If you don’t know somebody personally, how can you speak about him? I never said about myself I’m a samurai. I’m respecting all the warriors from history and I’m sharing with the people around the world my best ideas and my best thoughts which have helped me to improve myself.
“He doesn’t know anything about me.”
Jiri Prochazka fires back at Aleksandar Rakic for saying he’s a fake samurai 😳
“He’s talking too much. He doesn’t know me, and he will know me in the cage.
If you don’t know somebody personally, how can you speak about him. I never said about myself I’m a samurai.”
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) April 10, 2024
After scoring back-to-back second-round knockouts against Volkan Oezdemir and Dominick Reyes, ‘BJP’ bested Glover Teixeira in a five-round war to claim the light heavyweight title at UFC 275. Scheduled to run it back with the Brazilian six months later, Prochazka was forced to vacate the title after suffering a shoulder injury.
Prochazka returned in November with an opportunity to reclaim the crown in a UFC 295 headliner with former middleweight king Alex Pereira.
‘Poatan’ put away Prochazka in the second round, leaving the world’s most famous arena with his second bit of UFC gold in just under a year.
Pereira will now headline UFC 300, putting his 205-pound crown on the line against former champion Jamahal Hill.
Watch Jiri Prochazka’s full UFC media day appearance below:
