UFC president Dana White has detailed how and why the light heavyweight belt was vacated ahead of UFC 282. Jiri Prochazka was set to clash with Glover Teixeira in the headliner for the event when a gruesome shoulder injury forced Prochazka out of the fight. White discussed Prochazka’s reaction to the injury in a recent appearance on Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett’s podcast.
“That night when we were in there and we’re having the meeting and we’re talking about the possibility of him fighting again, he was saying ‘I think I can come back in five months’ and all this s***.
Dana White: Prochazka “Destroyed His Shoulder”
The doctor was with us, too, and the doctor was like you need to start being realistic about this. “The thing I told him was I don’t want you to put that type of pressure on you where you feel like you have to come back in five or six months and destroy your shoulder again. Take the time. Do it right. Get the right surgery and that night he decided then I’m not going to hold up the division, I’m going to vacate the title. Stud.”
White continued, stating that Prochazka’s injury was one of the worst in UFC history. “That night when it all went down and we had our doctor look at him, the doctor literally said in all the years of the UFC, this is the worst shoulder injury we’ve ever seen. It’s pretty nasty. Him being the f****** savage that he is, he still wanted to fight. No, you can’t fight, kid. He tore it good.
What happened was it popped out and he had some guys there at the gym [try to put it back in socket] and it f****** ripped the s*** out of it and destroyed his shoulder. I’ll tell you, tell him, tell all the fighters, if anything happens to you, jump in a f****** car and go to the hospital. We will pay for everything. People think that these guys at the gym can fix your shoulder, do this s***, do that s***, don’t even risk it. Just go to the hospital. It’s crazy.”
White also said that Jiri Prochazka will be a shoo-in for a title fight upon his return to competition.“He will still be looked at as the champ. He never lost the belt. He vacated it. These guys will fight for the title. There might actually be two fights that happen before he’s able to return after that shoulder surgery.”
Do you think we’ll ever see Jiri Prochazka in the Octagon again? Let us know in the comments.
