Sean O’Malley expects Jiri Prochazka to utilize a unique coping mechanism when it comes to dealing with his latest loss.
The ever-unpredictable Prochazka suffered one of the most shocking knockout defeats in MMA history when he was leveled by a counter punch from Carlos Ulberg in Saturday’s UFC 327 main event. Ulberg was severely compromised by an injury to his right leg, but somehow found a finishing blow to put Prochazka down in the first round and claim a vacant light heavyweight title.
Prochazka was attempting to become UFC champion for a second time, but now goes back to the drawing board after his third knockout loss in his past six fights. Referencing Prochazka’s famously unorthodox training techniques, O’Malley joked that the Czech star might throw down with Mother Nature to vent his frustrations.
“You know he’s going to beat the f*ck out of some tree in the woods,” O’Malley said in a YouTube reaction video.
“Jiri says he felt bad, he felt mercy or he didn’t want to hurt him,” O’Malley said. “If anyone else said that, I’d be like, ‘Man…’ But Jiri, I kind of believe him. If he could have knocked him out with a right hand, he would have. Maybe in his head he did feel it and it might have played into it a little bit, but you could just see the heartbreak on Jiri. That motherf*cker’s going to have a tough time sleeping for a couple of weeks. Every time he closes his eyes on the bed, it goes through your mind, ‘What could I have done?’ And his fight was literally in the palm of his hand and now he’s not, he was almost UFC world champion and now he’s not.
“He’s going to lay down like this and go, ‘F*ck!’ Losing sucks. When you lay your head down on that pillow at night, you’re just like, ‘F*ck. Alright. Got to find a way to sleep.’”
O’Malley praised Ulberg for maintaining his composure and not panicking, noting that even though Ulberg’s options were limited, he stayed in control until he found the counterstrike that ended the contest. Ulberg has now won 10 straight fights and established himself as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in MMA, but fans will have to wait and see if he can capitalize on this moment pending a diagnosis of his injury.
For now, both Ulberg and Prochazka will have plenty of time to dwell on this pivotal moment in their careers.
“Jiri literally 90 percent had him finished,” Prochazka. “[Ulberg’s] leg, something’s going with his stuff. Every time he threw that calf kick, that leg kick, Carlos just ate it. He wasn’t even throwing right hands behind it, he was just eating them, and Jiri just didn’t capitalize on it. Kind of rushes in, he has Carlos backed up against the cage, Carlos has a right hand and a left hook, pretty much that’s it, and Jiri’s hand’s just down by his hip.”
“It’s hard to say you can’t fight like that, because f*cking look at it, dude’s had a crazy career, but God, when your hand’s down by your f*cking hip and you’re fighting someone who counters that hard. God, dude, I just feel bad for Jiri. I literally felt his f*cking post-fight speech, because I said the same thing. ‘Merab [Dvalishvili], his nose, I felt bad, I just didn’t want to hit it anymore.’ So I get it. I feel that, Jiri. I feel that. Go and sit in a dark room for a couple of days and just gather, hang out, eat some snacks.”
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