New light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka will run it back with the man he took the title from, Glover Teixeira, at UFC 282 on December 10th.
The two warriors first met at UFC 275 in June delivering a Fight of the Year candidate. It was a brutal back-and-forth war that saw Prochazka score a fifth-round submission with just 28-seconds remaining in the contest. Originally expected to meet another former champion, Jan Blachowicz, ‘Denisa’ will instead give Teixeira the opportunity to reclaim UFC gold under the bright lights of Las Vegas.
During an appearance on ‘The MMA Hour‘ with Ariel Helwani, Jiri Prochazka was candid about his UFC 275 performance, claiming it was the worst of his career and is eager to prove to the world and himself that he can do better against the Brazilian icon.
“Yeah. Finally, this time I’m glad for what I decided for that and I just want to show my best performance. In the first fight, that was one of the worst performances of all of my fights. I’m saying that from… I mean that my attitude, I know I can do that better, and like I said, Glover deserves the rematch because this fight was 50/50 so I just accept the challenge.”
With the bout just two months away, Prochazka feels that he is ready internally to step into the Octagon. The next eight weeks will be all about physical preparation.
“For me, yeah. I’m keeping myself constantly in the inner work so now I just push the conditioning. The preparation and the sparring preparation.”
UFC is finalizing a bout between Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira for UFC 282 in Las Vegas, sources confirmed to @bokamotoESPN.
Contracts have yet to be signed but the fight is close to being finalized. pic.twitter.com/Hd4PeeV6Sv
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 13, 2022
Jiri Prochazka on the Differences Between Going into a Bout as a Champion Rather Than a Challenger
When Jiri Prochazka steps back into the Octagon on December 10th, he’ll do so like never before. He will do it as a world champion. Discussing this shift in dynamic with Helwani, Prochazka reveals that once he became a UFC champion, he had to make changes in his life, preparing himself to represent what he believes a “true champion” should be.
“Yeah, the last one in June, I had to check these things I had to change in myself to help to see other guys in my weight division and all of the guys in the UFC how to look for them right now. That’s what I have to accept. Right now, I’m the champion and I had to rebuild all the things around me. All the people around me… My friends had to understand it right now because I had to change a lot of things. What I’m really doing. My habits, work. What I’m normally doing and that’s how I’m going into the fight.
“Like a champion and Glover is a challenger right now and that’s what I will show him. Why I’m the champion, what is the true attitude of a champion. It’s very simple. I just want to be the true champion and show it in full power.”
