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Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka is one of the most exciting fighters on the UFC roster. He possesses an unorthodox fighting style that made him an instant sensation and catapulted the 30-year-old into a title shot with just two UFC wins on his record.
He made the most of the opportunity and captured the gold. But the Czech fighter was dangerously close to the first major setback of his UFC career when he competed against former title challenger Dominick Reyes at UFC Vegas 25.
The five-round main event saw Prochazka knock Reyes out cold with a devastating spinning back elbow in the second round. However, the fight was a chaotic affair for as long as it lasted and both men survived several seemingly fight-ending shots from each other.
In one instance, Reyes landed an upkick on Prochazka that momentarily knocked him out. However, Prochazka displayed an excellent ability to think while being hurt and managed to stall the action till he recovered.
He reminisced about the moment in an interview and said:
“The kick from the ground to my head. That was a knockout but nobody knows that. I was, for one or two seconds, out! I was out! I was just trying to [lie on his body] just to take one, two, three seconds to take a breath…”
Watch Jiri Prochazka explain it below:
Jiri Prochazka is set to fight for the title again
Jiri Prochazka captured the UFC light heavyweight crown in the very next fight against Glover Teixeira. He voluntarily relinquished the title after suffering a severe shoulder injury. In his absence, Jamahal Hill became the UFC light heavyweight champion but suffered a similar fate as Prochazka.
Former UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira recently made a successful light heavyweight debut against former 205-pound king Jan Blachowicz. Prochazka will fight Pereira for the vacant light heavyweight title in the co-main event of UFC 295 on November 11, 2023, at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York.
The event will be headlined by a heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and former two-time title holder Stipe Miocic. At the time of this writing, Prochazka vs. Pereira is a pick ‘em fight. 'Denisa' opened as a -120 favorite on the betting lines. Meanwhile, Pereira is not far behind at -110.
