Jiri Prochazka served as the backup fighter for the UFC 267 main event title fight between Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira. He says that him being there is what led to Jan losing his title.
After just two fights in the UFC, Prochazka has already become the top contender, with Dana White saying that he will likely be the next contender for the light heavyweight title. If that is the case, he will be taking on Glover Teixeira who, at 42 years old, became the oldest person to win a UFC title for the first time.
Jiri believes that the reason Glover was able to beat Jan Blachowicz was because the then-champ was distracted and looking past his opponent. Speaking on The MMA Hour, Jiri explained that, in his opinion, Jan was too busy thinking about fighting him, and did not pay enough attention to the threats of Glover.
“I think that Jan was a little bit, not disrespectful, but I think he didn’t take that fight so seriously. I think, that’s just my opinion, because Jan spoke about a fight between him and me, and that was a little bit disrespectful to Glover… In the first step, you need to be ready for the fight that is before you,” Prochazka said.
“He didn’t do some technique wrong. His whole state of mind was a little bit bad, because if you don’t want to defend that for 100%, if you don’t want to win for 100%, that’s the bad side.”
Jiri Prochazka Fires Back At Aleksandar Rakic
The idea is that Jiri Prochazka is going to be next in line for the title, after being the backup fighter for this fight. However he says that there has been no official word from the UFC to confirm that just yet.
“No, I have not confirmed that from the UFC. That’s just the information from the cage, from the people around, and I’m just trying to talk about that because Dana White said after my last fight with Dominick Reyes that the winner will be the next challenger for the title fight. So I just keep waiting for this moment.”
One person who would like it if Prochazka does not fight for the title is Aleksandar Rakic, who took to his social media to claim that the UFC offered both he and Jiri a fight for the number one contender. That said, Jiri says that he has had his management confirm that they have received no such offer from the promotion.
“I’m a little bit disappointed from that, because my coach showed me that tweet before, and that’s so disrespectful. That’s bad. The first information, that the UFC offered him that fight, that’s not true. That’s not true from my guys, from my manager who’s speaking with the UFC, and they said that’s not true what he wrote. That’s showing one thing, he’s just a liar,” he said.
Ask him why is he ducking to fight for the #1 Contender when he got offered the fight two days ago?
Samurai my ass and I am the one who is declining to fight? I don't think so. 🥱
The time will come when I cut that ugly Czech flag shit off his head. https://t.co/O3OGrpRTOG
— Aleksandar Rakic (@rakic_ufc) November 3, 2021
Do you want to see Jiri Prochazka face Glover Teixiera for the title in his next fight? How do you see that bout playing out?
