Jiri Prochazka wants to fight Alex Pereira next.
This past Saturday, Prochazka competed in the feature prelim of UFC 300, stopping Aleksandar Rakic in the second round after overcoming some difficulty in the first round. It was Prochazka’s first win since losing to Pereira in their vacant light heavyweight title fight at UFC 295, and one that he says he felt immense pressure to get.
“I feel great. I feel really great that the mission was successful,” Prochazka said Wednesday on The MMA Hour. “Especially this fight was, for me, I don’t want to say personal, but it was for me something really important, because all that preparation after the fight in New York, it was for me a big fight. So maybe that’s why I took that seriously and I was so focused for targeting the head or important places of Aleksandar’s body. Maybe that’s why I caught a lot of punches. I forgot to play more and be more relaxed.
“I don’t need to put pressure on myself, but especially this one, maybe the talking from Aleksandar helped to be more in focus,” Prochazka continued. “But the most important [thing] for me was to win this fight and show that’s my place, that’s my space in the cage. No matter what you want to do, your punches — I don’t want to say are nothing for me, but I know how to catch punches and I know how to go through, totally through the opponent.”
Another man who knows how to go through his opponents is Pereira, who also competed at UFC 300, knocking out Jamahal Hill in the first round of the main event to retain the light heavyweight title. Pereira did the same to Prochazka at UFC 295 last November, finishing him in the second round, but Prochazka previously revealed he dealt with a staph infection ahead of that fight. He promises a different performance if he gets a rematch.
“Never regret,” Prochazka said when asked about the previous fight with Pereira. “I took that because the main event fell out, Jon Jones vs. [Stipe] Miocic. I felt like, ‘This is my time, no matter what happened, right now. I’m just with one arm, I have staph infection,’ there was much more problems, antibiotics and a lot of things around, so I said to myself, ‘Let’s go through that. Give everything to the fight, and still every time believe, believe, believe.’ That’s it. That’s all. But next time, in that case, I want to be more professional in that. I want to give everything, so that means I need to be healthy for every fight.”
And with both of them winning on Saturday, Prochazka hopes that second fight could be soon, calling for a rematch to take place next.
“I would like to fight for the title,” Prochazka said. “Especially after the decision in New York. The fact that I won the fight on Saturday, that’s the only thing I feel right now. I feel that maybe my performance on Saturday — getting punched, to accept the punches and this will not work with Pereira, but people have to understand, I know how to make a [specific] fight with a fighter. I will fight another one with another fighter, I can fight like another man.”
And if he had his druthers, soon would be quicker than fast. After UFC 300, Pereira called to make a quick turnaround to main event UFC 301 in Rio in just a few weeks, and while it’s unlikely Pereira will get his wish since he broke a toe during his fight with Hill on Saturday, if something changes, Prochazka will be more than happy to oblige him.
“As soon as possible,” Prochazka said when asked for a timeline. “If that will be for a title with Alex, I am open to take it in Brazil. In two weeks. If there will be another date, we’ll see.”
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