Fate was not kind to Jiri Prochazka this year. The Czech fighter was never able to defend the UFC light heavyweight title he won against Glover Teixeira in June after being forced to relinquish it with a shoulder injury that will put him on hold indefinitely.
Not many details about what happened were released until recently, when UFC President Dana White sat down with Paddy Pimblett for a podcast. He says it happened at the gym when Prochazka’s coaches were trying to repair the already injured shoulder themselves.
“That night when everything fell apart and our doctor examined him, the doctor literally said in all his years in the UFC, this is the worst shoulder injury we’ve ever seen.
“It’s pretty nasty and he’s as freaking wild as he is, he still wanted to fight. He said, “I could do it…” No. You can’t fight, little one.
“What happened was it popped out and he had some people in the gym (trying to put it back in). And they f—ng ripped his shit out and busted his shoulder.”
Prochazka, itching (and still is) to prove himself as the legitimate defending champion, wanted to keep fighting. However, White advised against it.
“That night when we were in there and we had the meeting and we were talking about the possibility that he might fight again, he was like, ‘I think I can come back in five months…’ and all that shit. The doctor was with us too, and the doctor says, “You have to start being realistic.”
“The thing I said to him was, ‘I don’t want to put such pressure on you that you want to come back in five or six months and destroy your shoulder again. Take your time, do it right, get the surgery right.”
“That night he decided, ‘I’m not going to stop the division, I’m going to vacate the title.’ Breed.”
White then reminded Pimblett and all other fighters to leave fixation to trained professionals and not their trainers.
“I’m telling you, I told him, I’m telling all fighters: if anything happens to you, get in a car and go to the hospital.
“We’ll pay for everything… people think these guys at the gym can fix your shoulder, do that shit, that shit.” Don’t even risk it. Just go to the hospital.”
Prochazka’s first title defense was set to come at this weekend’s UFC 282, a rematch against Teixeira. Former champion Jan Blachowicz will now get a chance to reclaim the belt as he faces Magomed Ankalaev for the vacant title.