Jiri Prochazka is requesting that Alex Pereira lay down his magic stones and Shamanic spells and meet him inside the Octagon mono e mono.
In November 2023, ‘Poatan’ scored a second-round knockout against Prochazka inside Madison Square Garden to capture the light heavyweight championship, his second title in the span of a year. Seven months later, they’ll run it back on just 16 days’ notice when they step into the main event spotlight at UFC 303 on June 29.
Both fighters are coming off big wins at UFC 300 in April. Prochazka scored a stellar come-from-behind KO against Aleksandar Rakic while Pereira closed the show with a highlight-reel knockout of former champion Jamahal Hill.
“I saw how he was working against Jamahal and after the fight against Jamahal,” Prochazka said during an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. “I don’t want to be bad in (saying this), but I think he believes a lot in help of spiritual things, and that’s something that I think he can’t fight without because I want to keep that in a clear line.
“Just the sport performance, pure performance, man versus man, but I think he doesn’t know how to fight without that because he used these things every time, so I think right now, I’m looking forward to that” (h/t MMA Mania).
Asked to clarify what he meant by “spiritual things,” Prochazka shared his belief that ‘Poatan’ is using Shamanic magic to win his fights.
“Everybody knows he is working with some Shamanics, with some Shamans from his hometown and he believes in some spiritual help from them.
“I believe too, but I believe in the best performance, in human performance right here right now, without no magic, and let’s see if Alex will still work like that because it’s working but I believe in a clear way, and I will do that and I want to win by that way,”
It sounds like Jiri Prochazka is accusing Pereira of using a new type of PED — Performance Enhancing Deities. Or perhaps ‘BJP’ has been playing a little too much Elden Ring.
Jiri Prochazka is no stranger to unusual training methods
Of course, Alex Pereira isn’t the only one using unusual training methods in between fights. Prochazka is well-known for locking himself in a dark room for days at a time with nothing, but some water and his thoughts.
“It was great, three and a half days without food, just you, water and training, spending time with your best ideas and best motivations, going through your fears, that’s all,” Prochazka said.
Prochazka is 4-1 under the UFC banner, his lone loss coming against Pereira at UFC 295. All of his wins inside the Octagon have come via second-round KO with the lone exception being his Fight of the Year candidate with Glover Teixeira in June 2022.
‘BJP’ finished the Brazilian in the fifth round via RNC to claim the light heavyweight title.