Jiri Prochazka is a peaceful guy. Really.
That might sound hard to believe given the intensity that the Czech striker brings to all of his fights – Prochazka has not gone to the scorecards since 2016 – but he wants people to know that his peculiar ways are simply a matter of wanting to get in the right mindset before a fight.
Prochazka was seen standing alone outside of T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas ahead of his fight with Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 300 and the pre-fight scene went viral as uploader @OGICEY estimated that the former light heavyweight champion was standing around the same spot for at least 20 minutes.
Following his win over Rakic, Prochazka was asked about the video and he explained what led him to that moment.
“Yeah, that was me,” Prochazka said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “That’s my ritual, which I’m doing before every fight.
“When you are peaceful and quiet in yourself and when you are really connected to yourself, to the best version of yourself, and when you know what will come, what is before you, one day or two days or a week, it doesn’t matter, you have to work on that every day. They name that the ‘law of attraction,’ so you have to just follow your vision in an honest way.”
There’s no arguing with the results as Prochazka proceeded to walk Rakic down on fight night, marching through Rakic’s brutal leg kicks and firing back with thudding punches in the second round to score his 26th career knockout.
It’s that aggressiveness that has given Prochazka such a fearsome reputation, but he swears that when he’s out and about before a fight, he doesn’t mind fans coming up to greet him.
“I’m not a psycho,” Prochazka said when asked about other people in the video who may have thought to approach him. “It doesn’t matter, we can talk, we can whatever, but there is a time when everybody wants to be alone with our things. That’s my kind of meditation.
“That’s something when I started at 16 years old in high school with these things, to watch my visions of my best version in this life and follow them. This was that video, when I’m doing these things, because when you really want something, it’s not you want something. That dream, that vision wants you too and your work is to stay courageous and take action. That’s all.”
Prochazka rebounded from a tough loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 295 this past November. In that contest, Prochazka and Pereira were competing for a vacant light heavyweight title, but Pereira prevented Prochazka from becoming a two-time champion with a finishing flurry in Round 2.
As much of an honor as it was for every fighter to be part of the UFC’s 300th pay-per-view event, for Prochazka it was just as important to prove to himself that he’s still a contender.
“For me, it was not too much about the event, but after my last fight in New York with Pereira, it was for me important to make a spark inside myself,” Prochazka said. “To show to myself that storm, that hunter inside myself, and I’m very glad for that. Very glad.”