Henry Cejudo sees Jiri Prochazka’s go-with-the-flow fighting style as a big threat.
Former champion Prochazka (29-3-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) meets Alex Pereira (8-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) for the vacant light heavyweight title in the UFC 295 co-headliner Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Cejudo helped train Prochazka prior to his title fight against Glover Teixeira at UFC 275. Prochazka ended up submitting Teixeira late in Round 5, in what was a back-and-forth barnburner. Cejudo recalls advising Prochazka to be tactical, but Prochazka ended up engaging in a wild brawl.
“I’ve trained Jiri – Jiri’s come out here for a few weeks to train with me,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “Jiri Prochazka, he’s a different style of fighting. There’s a belief in him that makes him dangerous, you know? The fact that he’s a fighter that literally goes off of rhythm – he’s a rhythm fighter. He’s a guy that’s going to go out there and use all the rhythm that he has in order to start getting his striking and his wrestling to eventually look for these MMA finishes.
“When I was speaking to Jiri here, it was almost like, ‘Yeah, I’m just going to go all MMA with Glover.’ I was thinking more like, ‘No, let’s kick his legs, let’s defend his wrestling.’ And he’s like, ‘No, I’m just going to fight him in every position.’ I think looking at Jiri in that perspective, that’s what makes Jiri dangerous. That’s what makes Jiri Prochazka extremely dangerous.”
After dethroning Teixeira, Prochazka wound up relinquishing his belt after undergoing surgery to repair a severe shoulder injury. But with the title now vacant again after champion Jamahal Hill relinquished his belt due to an injury of his own, Prochazka will get an opportunity to reclaim the title he never lost.
