5 Defining Moments: Jiri Prochazka

Jiri Prochazka’s propensity for violence brought him to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The question now becomes whether or not he possesses the goods to become a true contender.

Prochazka will take the next step in his development when he faces Dominick Reyes in the UFC on ESPN 23 headliner this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The 28-year-old Hosteradice, Czech Republic, native, enters the Octagon the strength of 11 consecutive victories, 10 of them finishes. Prochazka has delivered 24 of his 27 career wins by knockout or technical knockout. Darko Stosic, Satoshi Ishii, Kazuyuki Fujita, Brandon Halsey and Fabio Maldonado were among the victims.

As Prochazka sews up any outstanding details ahead of his clash with Reyes, a look at five of the moments that have come to define him:

1. Perfect No More

Prochazka started his professional MMA career with four straight finishes, none lasting longer than 2:48, before he ran into Bojan Velickovic at Supreme Fighting Championship 1 on Dec. 9, 2012 in Belgrade, Serbia. It did not play out as he had hoped. Velickovic moved inside on the Czech with straight punches, executed a takedown from the clinch and applied his ground-and-pound, steadily increasing the intensity of his strikes. Prochazka ultimately surrendered his back, went belly down on the canvas and absorbed further punishment until the stoppage was called.

2. Testing Mettle

It was a one-round war of attrition. Prochazka emerged as the last man standing in the semifinals of the Rizin Fighting Federation light heavyweight grand prix, as he was awarded a technical knockout over Vadim Nemkov in between the first and second rounds of their “Iza no Mai” pairing on Dec. 31, 2015 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The two men took turns leading the dance, as Prochazka flexed his superiority in the standup exchanges and Nemkov answered with takedowns, positional control, ground-and-pound and repeated submission attempts. However, the future Bellator MMA champion paid a steep price for the gains he made. Nemkov suffered significant damage to his left eye and exhausted himself to such a degree that it became evident he had crossed the point of no return. When the bell sounded to conclude Round 1, the Fedor Emelianenko protégé remained on the canvas, indicated he could not reach his corner under his own power and conceded defeat. Success proved fleeting for Prochazka, who walked into a fight-ending right hand from Muhammad Lawal in the tournament final soon after. It would not be the last time he crossed paths with “King Mo.”

3. Retribution

A little more than three years after their initial encounter, Prochazka landed his desired rematch with “King Mo” and made the most of the opportunity. “Denisa” captured the inaugural Rizin Fighting Federation light heavyweight championship, as he buried Lawal with punches in the third round of their Rizin 15 main event on April 21, 2019 at Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. Prochazka drew the curtain 3:02 into Round 3. The Czech never stopped hurling punches at Lawal and eventually wore down the former Strikeforce titleholder with merciless pace. Prochazka utilized an effective sprawl to steer clear of takedowns, drew the Murfreesboro, Tennessee, native into a firefight and methodically chipped away at his resolve with effective combination punching. By the time they reached the third round, the proverbial writing was on the wall. Prochazka sprawled out of a desperation takedown, turned up the volume and swarmed the American Top Team rep with punches, flooring him with two right uppercuts. As soon as Lawal hit the canvas, referee Minoru Toyonaga moved in to prevent unnecessary carnage.

4. Staying Power

Prochazka retained his undisputed Rizin Fighting Federation championship when he punched out C.B. Dollaway in the first round of their Rizin 20 showcase on Dec. 31, 2019 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The well-traveled Dollaway bowed out 1:55 into Round 1. Prochazka ate a few leg kicks from the Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran but continued to move forward with punches, showing no regard for “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 7 finalist’s standup skills. He eventually caught Dollaway exiting one of the corners, uncorked a right uppercut and followed it with a crushing left hook that sent “The Doberman” crashing to the canvas. No further punishment was required. It was Prochazka’s final pre-UFC assignment.

5. Big League Chew

Performance exceeded the hype associated with Prochazka, as he knocked out Volkan Oezdemir in the second round of their featured UFC 251 light heavyweight prelim and announced his arrival in the Ultimate Fighting Championship with a vulgar display of power on July 11, 2020 at the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Oezdemir went to sleep 49 seconds into Round 2, the latest victim of a runaway Czech Republic freight train. A closely contested first five minutes gave way to the dramatic conclusion in the middle stanza. Prochazka staggered the Swiss standout with a head kick, flurried with punches and backed him to the fence, where he created some distance with a jab and unleashed a devastating right cross that froze his counterpart upon impact.