Jiri Prochazka was forced out of his scheduled UFC 282 title clash against Glover Teixeira due to a gruesome shoulder injury.
Due to this, ‘Denisa’ chose to immediately vacate the title as he is likely to be out of action for a considerable duration of time.
Prochazka recently weighed in on his decision to vacate the title, which admittedly was a hard one. While the former light heavyweight champion would have liked to retain his strap, he decided to let the show go on in the larger interest of the entire division after parlaying with the UFC brass.
However, the Czech star seemingly had no qualms about vacating the UFC light heavyweight title, as his ultimate goal remains to be the best fighter in the world. Jiri Prochazka recently said on The MMA Hour:
“I don’t wanna talk about it a lot. But after talk with the directors of UFC, I have to let… The show must go on. Show must go on and I respect it. What to say about it? I want to stay a champion, doesn’t matter if I’m injured, doesn’t matter what. But it is the best for the light heavyweight division right now. For me it doesn’t matter. My way is to be the best fighter in the world, not just the light heavyweight division. That’s why I can vacate the title and wait for my moment till I’ll be in full power.”
Watch Prochazka’s comments below:
Jiri Prochazka reveals details of his shoulder injury
Jiri Prochazka dislocated his shoulder during a regular sparring session in the lead-up to UFC 282. ‘Denisa’ has taken responsibility for the injury upon himself as he let his sparring partner take his back, which was followed by a suplex.
The former light heavyweight champion was helped by a teammate of Magomed Ankalaev, who was scheduled to fight Jan Blachowicz in the UFC 282 co-headliner up to that point. Jiri Prochazka further said on The MMA Hour:
“Everything was light, nobody did something wrong, but I did a mistake. I let the guy take my back. He did a suplex right on my shoulder. That was that. The shoulder was out, and one guy, he put me that shoulder back — one of the Russian guys from Ankalaev’s team. And after that, we went to the hospital.”
After getting promoted to the main event at UFC 282, Ankalaev and Blachowicz fought to a split draw, leaving the light heavyweight title vacant yet again.
Watch Prochazka’s comments below (0:42):