Jiri Prochazka battled a staph infection before his UFC 295 title fight against Alex Pereira but never thought of pulling out.
Prochazka was set for his first fight since vacating the light heavyweight title due to a shoulder injury. After being away from the Octagon for nearly a year-and-a-half, Prochazka says he was adamant he would fight even though he couldn’t train and prepare properly due to the infection, which was started on his leg and went all the way to his ear.
“From the last weeks of preparation, I train just one week (because of) staph infection. After the fight, I fought with that for more than one month. I had antibiotics before the fight, so the last five weeks before the fight (I couldn’t train properly),” Prochazka said on The MMA Hour.
Although Jiri Prochazka had to deal with the staph infection and not being able to train properly, he says he never thought of pulling out of the fight. Instead, he says he was still confident he would beat Alex Pereira at UFC 295 despite dealing with the ailment.
“No. When I saw Jon Jones was injured, I thought, man what to say, doesn’t matter, I’m a warrior, and I’m going to fight. I’m going to win every fight, it doesn’t matter (if I’m dealing with something). Many times in a fight, I’ve dealt with sickness, injuries, many things, and I believe I can win. When you believe you can win, the way is open. That’s why I’m going to every fight,” Prochazka said.
Ultimately, Jiri Prochazka suffered a second-round TKO loss to Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 295 for the vacant light heavyweight title. The bout marked his first fight since defeating Glover Teixeira by fifth-round submission to win the title.
Following the loss, Prochazka is set to return to the Octagon on April 13 at UFC 300 against Aleksandar Rakic. If Prochazka wins, he could very well get another crack at the belt and Pereira. The former RIZIN world champion is now 3-1 in the UFC, as he also has knockout victories over Dominick Reyes and Volkan Oezdemir.
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