What’s Next For Jiri Prochazka?

UFC 303 blew the roof off T-Mobile Arena last Saturday night (June, 29, 2024) in Las Vegas, Nevada, leaving plenty of fighters feeling the post-fight blues. Among them was Anthony Smith, who was upset by Roman Dolidze — a middleweight — via unanimous decision after putting on an uninspiring performance.

And Michelle Waterson-Gomez, who ended her mixed martial arts (MMA) career on a sour note, losing her fifth straight after she was utterly dominated by Gillian Robertson (see her retirement speech here). But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?

Jiri Prochazka.

Coming into his rematch against light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira, Prochazka was highly-confident despite losing to “Poatan” via second-round TKO at UFC 295 seven months go. Magic spirits aside, “BJP” felt the first fight didn’t reflect what he is capable of, and he bounced back with a great stoppage win over Aleksandar Rakic. But as he quickly found out (again), Pereira is in a league of his own.

From the jump, Pereira dictated the pace and never allowed Prochazka to get any rhythm going. Once he got loose, “Poatan” started to connect more frequently, stunning and dropping “BJP” with one second left in the opening round. Had there been a few more seconds left, Pereira would’ve gotten the job done.

No fret, at the beginning of round two, Pereira unleashed a Mirko Cro Cop-like high kick that dropped his foe like a sack of potatoes. After hesitating a bit, perhaps rightfully so, Pereira reluctantly went in and finished the job. It was actually a good thing that Herb Dean didn’t stop the fight right away because this time around there was no controversy of an early stoppage.

And just like that, the legend of “Poatan” blows up exponentially, while Prochazka suffers his second loss to the champion, leaving him out of reach of another title shot for as long as the Brazilian bomber has the title. It’s something that’s not lost on Prochazka, who admitted he needs to fix some things as soon as possible.

“Hello everyone, thank you for all your support,” Prochazka said on X. “Thanks to you Alex for the fight. You [were] better. And only one thing goes on my mind, that I need to evolve to the next level — or don’t fight again. So simple, to be the strongest, this is the way. Thank you. See you in the gym.”

There is no denying Prochazka has all of the talent in the world as a former champion, but Pereira has his number and a trilogy fight is unlikely to happen anytime soon, if ever. For now, “BJP” needs to regroup and look forward to the future and win some fights.

For my money, a fight against Jamahal Hill makes all of the sense in the world for the simple fact that Pereira’s last three wins came against those men. UFC makes it a habit to pair up fighters who lost to the same person against one another. If Hill wants to get back to a title fight, why not try to defeat the No. 1 ranked guy?

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