Jiri Prochazka’s training may be unorthodox, but there’s a method to the madness.
“Crazy for who?” Prochazka said when asked about his training methods. “Maybe crazy for somebody who doesn’t know that. …
“Every high-level athlete, the sport on the top level is not so healthy, not so usual, not so normal. That’s why we have to be a little bit above the normal line. And I like to go through these levels, which is behind normal. …
“I like the challenges. … It’s terrifying, but it’s about calm the mind in every aspect of your life. These challenges gave me the opportunity to control myself as much as I can. So, that’s why I do these things. And this challenge, last year, swimming under the ice, was like when you’re trying something for the first time in your life. Like sex. You do that, and then you know. Until that moment, you don’t know, you have just imagination about that. But after that, you really know what it’s about.”
For Prochazka, it’s not just about imagination and experience, though. His wild training habits are about challenging the most basic human emotion.
“Fear. I hate fear,” Prochazka said. “No, I don’t hate fear. I want to be so deep in contact with the fear to see through him, because he is just shaking the mind. He’s just shaking your emotion and asking you, ‘Are you sure in this? Are you stable [inside]?’ And I hate these type of questions, inside myself, to myself. So, that’s why I’m doing all these things, and trying to be a little bit closer, a little bit closer, a little bit closer, day by day, to the calm mind. To see totally through.”
While Prochazka stands by his unique methods, as a maturing adult with a family on the way he also realizes some of the things he’s done in the past were not the smartest ideas.
“I would do all of these things, but what I learned: do it more professionally,” Prochazka said. “I did many times, I just took the bag and all this equipment, and I just went to the mountains somewhere. I didn’t take a map, I just went to the mountains, and I lost myself, and I just tried to survive there for a few days, and it was not funny. It was just not funny. It just survive. …
“This is not smart. This is really not smart, because you have to know the rules.”
While Prochazka’s techniques may be unorthodox, they’re certainly working. Since joining the UFC, Prochazka has only lost to Alex Pereira and looks to reclaim the light heavyweight title when he fights Carlos Ulberg for the vacant belt in the main event of UFC 327 in Miami next Saturday.
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