Jiri Prochazka Believes Defeating Alex Pereira is His Path to Proving His Mastery in the UFC

Jiri Prochazka has accomplished nearly everything in the UFC, but there’s one challenge that continues to haunt him: Alex Pereira. Despite his impressive career, Prochazka has already fought the UFC light heavyweight champion twice and on both occasions, failed to do the job. As a man, who lives by Samurai principles, Prochazka now wants one more shot at Pereira, so he can defeat him and complete his bucket list. 

As of right now, former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is the only one to have defeated Pereira. It was UFC 287 and after almost two rounds of piecing Adesanya up, Pereira ate a right hook. Initially stunned, Pereira tried to rush Izzy again but ended up getting cracked on the chin again to get knocked out. Pereira and Adesanya had faced each other thrice before and the latter had won all those encounters.

So Prochazka still has time! However, it’s getting inside the octagon with Pereira, that is a bigger challenge, considering the champion is aiming for bigger and better things.

However, Prochazka remains determined. He has defeated Jamahal and now awaits the winner of the Pereira vs Magomed Ankalev bout for the title. If Pereira retains his title, Jiri will hope to call him out one more time. 

Speaking to Mike Perry, he revealed that he’s now prepared to take on a world-class kickboxer like the UFC champion and said –

“Right now like I said, or like I showed in the last fight, I know what to do. To overcome and win against my next opponent. With Alex there are a few keys. Right now, this is my only thing that I want in this fighting career. To prove that mastery, to win in this fight because that is something what was for me a big learning. If you lost twice with someone, that is a big thing for me.’

Now, the question is will Pereira entertain a trilogy fight with Prochazka?

Their first encounter took place on November 11, 2023, at UFC 295, where Pereira secured the vacant Light Heavyweight Championship by defeating Prochazka via second-round TKO. The rematch occurred on June 29, 2024, at UFC 303.

In this bout, Pereira knocked Prochazka down in the final seconds of the first round with a left hook. He then finished the fight early in the second round with a head kick followed by punches, earning a TKO victory.

Thankfully for Prochazka, his performance against Hill impressed the champion. 

Pereira happy to accept Jiri’s challenge

Pereira was present at ringside at UFC 311 when Prochazka KO’ed Jamahal Hill with some stunning counterpunching. Pereira seemingly loved the KO, even mocking Hill in the process. After the event, he also responded to reporters asking him about Jiri and stated that he was only focused on Ankalaev since it was his time. 

But in the future, if everything had gone the way it should have, Pereira claimed he would be more than happy to let Jiri go for the title once again.

“I’m ready to fight anybody, it doesn’t matter who it is – right now, it’s Ankalaev’s time and I’m going to fight Ankalaev but after this fight, if everything goes good, we’re going to give Jiri this opportunity.”

But let’s all hold our horses and just see what the UFC has in store for both of them.