Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka admitted that small mistakes in his preparation and a staph infection that affected his training were the main reasons for his loss against Alex Pereira at UFC 295, but he is now focused on improving and winning his next fight against Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 300.
Jiri Prochazka, the ex-UFC light heavyweight champ, has a clear idea of what went wrong in his title fight against Alex Pereira at UFC 295. He’s pinpointed the small oversights that cost him the victory.
“I overlooked minor details in my prep,” Prochazka admitted on The MMA Hour. “Those tiny things were pivotal in that fight.”
He’s not bitter, though. Quite the opposite. “I’m grateful for that fight. It highlighted my errors,” he said. “I’m all about self-improvement, in the ring and in life. I strive to be better every day.”
And that’s why he’s optimistic. “I’m glad for that experience,” he said. “It’s made me determined to be better. Doesn’t matter who I’m up against next, I’ll win. I’m going for the title. That fight gave me a positive outlook.”
Prochazka’s next bout? It’s against Aleksandar Rakic, another European powerhouse, at UFC 300 in Vegas on April 13. He’s promising to bring his A-game. “I’ll be the best version of myself,” he vowed.
That’s a more realistic goal now that he’s over the illness that plagued him before UFC 295. A nasty staph infection threw a wrench in his training camp. “It seriously messed up my prep,” he confessed.
And that wasn’t the only issue. There was also the shoulder injury that cost him the title in the first place. “My shoulder wasn’t at full strength. My training was a mess. I only managed to train for one week out of the last five,” he explained.
The infection started in his leg and spread. “One morning, I woke up and my ear was four times its normal size,” he recalled. “Then there were other issues. It was a lot.”
But he never thought about pulling out of the fight. He’s been sick and injured before fights in the past. He believed he could power through.
Even now, he insists the fight was going his way until a critical error. “You can’t afford to make small mistakes against a good standup guy,” he said. “But I was controlling the fight until that point.”
His mistake? He got hit with Pereira’s signature left hook. The same mistake he made in his 2015 knockout loss to Muhammad Lawal. “That’s what’s so frustrating,” he said. “But it’s something I can fix.”
“I hate repeating mistakes,” he said. “I can’t stand it. I have no choice but to learn from this fight. I can’t afford to make bad moves or mistakes. There’s no time for that.”
He doesn’t regret taking the fight, though. He takes responsibility for the outcome. He doesn’t blame his physical condition or the ref.
“I don’t have any regrets,” he said. “What happened, happened. It was my bad decision. But now I know what I did wrong. My team knows. That’s why I’m grateful for that fight. Now it’s back to the grind. I’ve got an important fight and victory ahead of me. I’m ready to take it.”