From living in hurts in the jungle to training like a Samurai, Jiri Prochazka’s approach to training is anything but ordinary. As he gears up for his highly anticipated fight against Jamahal Hill at UFC 311, Prochazka has pushed the envelope by visiting active volcanoes in Mexico and “beautiful places” in Japan.
While some may find it odd, Prochazka sees it as a way to stay grounded and mentally prepared for the battles ahead. Whether this unique regimen will give him the edge in the octagon remains to be seen, but if it has helped him win the UFC world title, then he’s doing something right. His 25 KOs are a further testament to that.
While speaking to Michael Bisping about his upcoming fight, ‘BJP’ claimed that he didn’t really want to talk about what makes this camp successful. But he was happy to share the many highlights of his journey.
“But what I want to say, everybody knows that like I had a camp in Japan, beautiful camp, amazing camp visiting beautiful places. Trained with the biggest masters of Karate. Then in Mexico city, climbed the Popocatépetl mountain, a volcano.”
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Prochazka has often emphasized that camps are as much for the conditioning of the mind as they are for the body. And in his mind, the former light heavyweight champion is a samurai of the old.
In order to emulate how these ancient warriors fought, he finds it necessary to live as they did. So from punching trees 500 times a day to training in total darkness without food for days, Prochazka does the whole nine yards and then some.
And much like a Samurai, who has been defeated in battle, Prochazka is willing to risk everything for another shot at Alex Pereira.
Pereira is Prochazka’s endgame
Prochazka is set to face Jamahal Hill at UFC 311 on January 18, with both fighters coming off losses to Pereira. While Hill is still finding ways to beef with Pereira, whether in person or on the internet, Prochazka is just biding his time.
Reflecting on his second defeat to Pereira at UFC 303, he says he’s learned valuable lessons and made key adjustments to his training. The first Pereira fight saw him being outclassed as the champion finished him off with elbows.
Prochazka had an opportunity to avenge it but the second fight somehow resulted in a worse outcome. After dilly-dallying for a round, ‘Poatan’ slapped Prochazka’s head with his foot 13 seconds into the second round.
Prochazka now believes that a win over Hill at UFC 311 could lead to a third shot at Pereira, and he sees that as the ultimate test.
“If that will be Alex… that will be for me, really, the fight for my life.”
But first, he must get past Hill.
