Over the last decade, Jiri Prochazka has only suffered losses to two men.
Three of the former champion’s six career defeats, five of which have been knockouts, have come in UFC title fights.
Prochazka still wants a third fight with Alex Pereira after the Brazilian stopped him in both of their two meetings inside the Octagon.
Following Saturday night’s action, where Carlos Ulberg put Prochazka away to win the vacant light heavyweight gold, an analyst raised some concerns about the fan favorite.
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Jiri Prochazka blamed showing Carlos Ulberg mercy as the reason he wasn’t able to finish his opponent despite his significantly compromised leg.
During the UFC’s ‘On the Road’ show, analysts Chael Sonnen and Din Thomas both disagreed with this narrative.
Thomas went one step further by stating that Prochazka might not be the kind of fighter who rises to the occasion in the biggest of moments.
“I want to say this with as much respect as I possibly can, and this is going to sound really bad,” he said. “But it almost to me is he’s kind of a choke artist in the big moments.”
Sonnen backed up this point, arguing that there was a lot of pressure on Prochazka due to this not being his first shot at reclaiming the light heavyweight title.
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That being said, we’ve seen Prochazka record some of the best wins of his career when fights aren’t going his way and his back is against the wall.
The 33-year-old has always been a kill-or-be-killed style of fighter who may not have made the correct decisions on Saturday night in Miami.
However, that shouldn’t detract from Carlos Ulberg’s performance, as he won the title despite many feeling the result was inevitable once he injured his leg early in the fight.