Amid his sidelining from motion, former undisputed gentle heavyweight champion, Jiri Prochazka has claimed a possible middleweight title run could also be on the playing cards subsequent — notably after Dricus du Plessis retained his title at UFC 305 towards former champion, Israel Adesanya.
Prochazka, who nonetheless retains the primary rank within the gentle heavyweight pile, most just lately headlined UFC 303 on the finish of June throughout Worldwide Struggle Week.
Struggling his second defeat to champion, Alex Pereira of their heated title rematch, Czech Republic striker, Prochazka was stopped with a brutal high-kick knockout.
And within the instant aftermath of his loss, the previous Rizin FF star weighed up each a middleweight drop in chase of a second Octagon crown — or a title-eliminator towards fellow former champion, Jamahal Hill.
In his most up-to-date victory, devastating knockout ace, Prochazka rallied to greatest Aleksandar Rakic with a surprising second spherical stoppage at UFC 300 earlier this 12 months as well.
Jiri Prochazka weighs up Dricus du Plessis title cost
And nonetheless undecided on his future amid hyperlinks to an impending return to motion later this 12 months, Prochazka has welcomed the prospect to tackle Pretoria favourite, du Plessis for the middleweight championship.
“I’ve been contemplating that if (Israel Adesanya) wins, I’ll keep within the gentle heavyweight division, but when (Dricus) du Plessis wins, I’ll comply with him,” Jiri Prochazka stated on his official YouTube channel.
“I’ll clear issues up in a bit there and take the belt,” Jiri Prochazka defined. “It will definitely be a problem for me to go for the belt within the [middleweight] division. After which transfer up [back to light heavyweight].”
Profitable 205lbs gold again in the summertime of 2022, Prochazka travelled to Singapore the place he toppled then-champion, Glover Teixeira with a surprising fifth spherical end — defeating the Brazilian with a rear-naked choke stoppage — sans hooks, with the challenger down on the scorecards heading into the ultimate spherical.