“I like to challenge myself,” Jiri Prochazka responds to Kamaru Usman’s desire of fighting at 205 lbs

“I like to challenge myself,” Jiri Prochazka responds to Kamaru Usman’s desire of fighting at 205 lbs

Jiri Prochazka and Kamaru Usman

UFC Lightheavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka is all about traditions of defending the belt in his weight class, but would not mind facing challenges out of other divisions as well. Prochazka last fought winning the aforementioned title when he defeated Glover Teixeira at UFC 275 via fifth-round submission in a battle that is considered one of the greatest fights of all times.

Now for his first title defence, Prochazka’s next step is most likely going to be a rematch against Teixeira or a fight against another former champion in Jan Blachowicz. Blachowicz is coming off a doctor stoppage win over Aleksandar Rakic. Prochazka has won over the likes of Muhammad Lawal, Vadim Nemkov, C.B. Dolloway, Teixeira, Volkan Oezdemir, Dominick Reyes, Satoshi Ishii and many more.

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Also Read: “He’s a bigger challenge ,” Jiri Prochazka talks about finalising opponent for the first title defence

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Jiri Prochazka not thinking about Usman, but would love to challenge himself in future

Jiri Prochazka x Kamaru Usman x Ali Abdelaziz
With his victory, Prochazka became the first UFC Champion from the Czech Republic

In an interview with Dave Schmulenson aka The Schmo, Prochazka talks about his next title defence, his time during the International Fight Week, his life as a champion of the world and much more. Prochazka then also talks about a potential fight with UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Usman has previously suggested skipping middleweight and fighting for a second belt at light-heavyweight since the middleweight division is ruled by Usman’s friend Israel Adesanya.

“If he wants to challenge the guys from the light-heavyweight, I think it will not be so easy as they think,” says Prochazka. “And first, I want to defend the title, then I will focus on this fun so, I’m not thinking about that right now… I like to challenge myself from this and this is a good challenge because it’s another weight class, I don’t believe in weight classes, because every time it’s about the strongest man on the planet and that’s what I am looking for,” he concluded.

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What did you make of Jiri Prochazka delaying the idea of a super fight with Usman but not dismissing it at all as mentioned in the latter part of his dialogue? Who do you think would win the fight between both? Also, where do you rank both the champions in the current list of UFC pound-for-pound rankings?

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