The recently concluded UFC 303 tournament featured the battle between light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka. The battle ended with Pereira’s knockout win, and Jiri could not reclaim the title.
Despite Jiri’s strong approach in the opening round and his effective approach in the fight, Some believe the fighter was doomed to fail from the beginning. Georges St-Pierre’s coach, Firas Zahabi, was critical of Jiri’s performance during his fight. The coach believed Jiri did not use the right tactic during the fight, seeing as how Pereira has more experience. Zahabi expected Jiri to take advantage of Pereira and pull him out of his comfort zone with a takedown.
“You’d think Jiri would have like 10 more years under his belt in wrestling, and still, he didn’t even fathom a takedown,” Zahabi said. “He tried one little clinch. He didn’t even knock on that door. Very disappointing strategy by Jiri. Jiri was just seemingly happy to strike, and I will tell you, within the first minute of round one, “Poatan” had landed like four kicks, and you could tell he was already hurting Jiri’s leg.
“Jiri’s game plan and performance, I think that was his worst approach to a fight ever, he’s ever had. I heard he was like three days in a cave somewhere meditating, thinking about this fight, how he’s going to approach it. Unfortunately for him, it really didn’t work.”
Another person with much to say was former Bellator and ONE Championship titleholder Ben Askren. The fighter said he knew the fight wasn’t going to be in Jiri’s favor when the Czech fighter pleaded with Pereira against seeking spiritual help before their battle.
On his YouTube show “Funky and the Champ” with Daniel Cormier. Askren revealed that Jiri’s mindset of focusing on “magic” before the fight led to his defeat.
“I hate it. If you start talking like that, that is a clear sign you’re going to get your ass kicked. If you’re starting to worry about witchcraft, no, you’re done. You’re not going to win. I said it. I said, ‘Listen, if he’s worrying about witchcraft, this is going to be over quick. He’s going to get knocked out,’ and that’s what happened.
“When you get that far, it’s a little too far. I said it, I hate this. I hate the fact he was thinking about this kind of stuff,” Askren continued. “[If you are] it’s probably over for you.”
Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka bumped into each other after the fight at the airport and cleared the air. Since then, Jiri has admitted his defeat and taken responsibility.
