Following his loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 303, former light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka revealed that he needs to either evolve or quit fighting, but his coach has a different idea.
Jiri Prochazka is going back to the drawing board following his devastating knockout loss to UFC light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira, at UFC 303 on June 29.
Following the loss, the former champion took to social media to update his fans and even admitted that he needs to either evolve as a fighter, or quit fighting all together.
Jiri Prochazka’s coach suggests he should move down to middleweight
Despite that, Prochazka’s coach, Martin Karaivanov, has suggested that instead of quitting fighting, ‘BJP’ should consider moving down a weight class to middleweight.
Prochazka has never competed professionally at 185lbs, however, he has previously teased a cut down to middleweight himself, with now possibly being the perfect time for him to experiment.
“Everything was fine. I don’t know what happened. Jiri himself said afterward that he couldn’t get into the match,” Karaivanov told tncz.
“This time, everything was great before the match. Everything was in sync, Jiri was really ready. We wouldn’t have taken (it on) short notice if we weren’t sure he was ready,” the coach continued.
Despite that, Prochazka admitted that during the fight, he couldn’t get into it and didn’t feel like he was in the fight. Now, it is down to him and his team to decide what the next best step is, for him to get back to where he once was, and would be a move down to 185lbs, if it was his coaches decision.
“We’ll take a look at the recording, recap what happened, and draw consequences for the next training sessions. We’re certainly not done, we’re continuing. If I can speak for myself, I see it now as a restart and a positive step toward something happening.
“He is still old enough to fit relatively well into middleweight. So of course we will talk about it. It will not just be my decision, but the team’s decision. Middleweight would give meaning as a new restart,” Karaivanov explained.
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Prochazka has returned to unorthodox training following UFC 303 loss
The 31-year-old has revealed that he will be taking some time off from competing, after taking the short notice fight at UFC 303.
Having said that, the former champion has seemingly returned to at least some light unorthodox training, as he shared a video on his social media, of him punching a plank of wood.
“I will take rest, but now it’s time to elevate. Start again. Smarter, faster, more precisely. With a spirit of void,” Prochazka captioned his post.
If ‘The Last Samurai’ does decide to move down to middleweight, he will likely be thrust straight into a title eliminator bout, considering his accolades at light heavyweight.
Prochazka will possibly be keeping a keen eye on the culmination of the title fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya, with the two scheduled to finally lock horns at UFC 305 on August 17.
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