Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka vacated the title thanks to a debilitating shoulder injury. With the championship still vacant, Prochazka appeared on The MMA Hour to clarify the details of his temporary departure from competition, expressing how difficult it was for him to step down.
“That was a very hard thing for me. I don’t want to talk about a lot. But after a talk with the UFC, with the directors of UFC, I had to let the show must go on, and I respected it.
Prochazka Reveals Extent of GRUESOME Shoulder Injury
For me, I want to stay the champion. It doesn’t matter if I’m injured. But if it’s the best for the light heavyweight division right now, to make it better, for me, it doesn’t matter. My way is to be the best fighter in the world, not just in the light heavyweight division. So that’s why I vacated the title and wait for my moment to be in full power, and take it back.”
When Prochazka pulled out of the title fight, his opponent, Glover Teixeira, did so, too. A new main event, between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev, went ahead, and resulted in a draw. As a result, the light heavyweight title is still unoccupied. Throughout, Prochazka wanted to simply get off the couch and into the Octagon.
“[I was] still thinking about that I had to go to the fight, because I believe that I can solve it — I can solve the fight. I can end it in the first or second round. To not be there longer than is necessary. But everybody knows the story about T.J. Dillashaw [at UFC 280]. So I want to be professional, and I want to be humble to my team around me, to the UFC, and to my opponent.”
Prochazka’s reference is to when T.J. Dillashaw fought Aljamain Sterling at UFC 280 with a shoulder injury that prevented him from fighting even remotely competitively throughout the bout.
Prochazka, for his part, detailed how his shoulder injury came about, and squarely refused to blame anybody but himself.
“Everything was light, nobody did something wrong, but I did a mistake. I let the guy take my back. He did a suplex right on my shoulder. That was that.
The shoulder was out, and one guy, he put me that shoulder back — one of the Russian guys from Ankalaev’s team. And after that, we went to the hospital.
Nobody did something wrong. It was just my mistake. I was not focused, so it was my fault.” Do you think Jiri Prochazka can reclaim the light heavyweight belt? Let us know in the comments.
