Jiri Prochazka has rapidly propelled himself into the title picture at 205lbs after securing two stunning KO victories in a row since debuting last year, but admits he was taken aback when he was informed that the UFC is looking to line him up against the winner of Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira’s upcoming championship fight.
“I said ‘Why? Why so early?’ I said [to the UFC] ‘Okay, let’s go. Let’s go for the title in the shortest way’,” Prochazka said. “But I was not ready to talk about that after the fight. So it was a little surprising to me.
“But now I think I need a little time to upgrade a little bit of my style because I’m growing from fight to fight. And for an opponent like Blachowicz or Teixeira, I need to take just a little time to upgrade my style and to use new weapons. To be more dangerous. To use more precision. Because these mistakes from this fight with Reyes, I can’t do that in the title fight.”
Blachowicz and Teixeira aren’t scheduled to fight until September, so Prochazka certainly does have some time on his hands, although in the mean time he’s aware that the current No.3 ranked Aleksander Rakic may try to push to get the title shot instead.
“If the UFC or president of the UFC, Dana White, will say ‘No you need to fight with Rakic first’. Okay, let’s do that,” Prochazka said. “But I think I deserve this fight because Dominick was a great opponent for that and he is better than Aleksandar, nothing personal.”
