Jiri Prochazka and Jan Blachowicz plant the seeds for a light heavyweight title fight in Europe that’s guaranteed to drive Czech and Polish fans into a frenzy.
With his clutch last minute submission win at UFC 275, Jiri Prochazka leaves Singapore the UFC light heavyweight champion. It’s a prestigious title that’s been passed around a lot since Jon Jones vacated it in August 2020. First Jan Blachowicz claimed it, then Glover Teixeira took it off Jan. Now Jiri has defeated Glover, and will try to put together a streak.
But Jan Blachowicz wants to take the title back and prove his loss to Glover Teixeira was a fluke. Unfortunately for him, his last win over Aleksandar Rakic was a bit wonky … he didn’t win so much as Rakic’s knee ligaments lost. Blachowicz tried to make up for the lack of hype from that TKO (injury) victory by getting aggro in Prochazka’s face after the Czech fighter emerged from the cage at UFC 275.
Cameras caught the exchange, which saw Blachowicz get increasingly aggressive. Prochazka, in his typical weirdo form, fired back … with a kiss.
“It was a little bit friendly and a little bit aggressive after I said [to] him ‘Yes, OK, let’s go, you’re the next,’” Prochazka said at the post-fight press conference. “He started to be aggressive because he saw the camera and all these things. He tried to flex a little bit more. Yeah, I said him [makes kissing motion] ‘I love you.’”
“Because first he was smiling to me everything, and it was good. And after the fight it was ‘I want to fight! I want to fight!’ So I said I love you. I love you, Jan. Let’s talk in the cage like that.”
Blachowicz took to Twitter shortly after the event to call for the fight, reminding everyone that it would be a massive fight for Europe.
“Jiri, let’s do this!” he wrote. “The Battle for Europe. The biggest fight in the Continent’s history.”
While Prochazka confirmed at the post-fight press conference that he was open to all challengers (including an immediate rematch with Glover Teixeira), he did seem to lean towards a fight with Jan Blachowicz next.
Looks like @Jiri_BJP has his eyes set on his first title challenger #UFC275 pic.twitter.com/ydMTYzqWng
— UFC (@ufc) June 12, 2022
“Now it’s Jan, I think the next challenger,” he said. “So I would like to fight Jan because I think I have the keys to defeat him. So let’s do that. I think Europe would be the best place between the Polish and Czech republic. It’s too early to talk about the next fight. But I know the next fight will be against Jan, and I will be prepared for that.”
UFC president Dana White recently said that a 205 pound fight between Anthony Smith and Magomed Ankalaev on July 30th was for the #1 contender spot. Between that fight, a rematch between Prochazka and Teixeira, and a ‘Battle of Europe’ with Jan Blachowicz, the UFC has a lot of good options for exciting title defenses at light heavyweight.
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