Jiri Prochazka ‘can smell the energy,’ power and weakness of opponents

Jiri Prochazka, who serves as the backup / alternate for Jan Blachowicz vs. Glover Teixeira at UFC 267, has Big Schnoz Energy.

Prochazka (28-3-1) is settling into “Fight Island” ahead of UFC 267, which will take place inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, this weekend (Sat., Oct. 30, 2021), streaming online via a free ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV). Even if Prochazka doesn’t get the short-notice call to fight Blachowicz or Teixeira, the event gives him a chance to sniff out the competition.

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TWO TITLES UP FOR GRABS! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) makes its highly anticipated return to Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sat., Nov. 11, 2023, with a re-worked pay-per-view (PPV) main card. In the ESPN+-streamed main event, former 205-pound roost-ruler, Jiri Prochazka, will lock horns with ex-Middleweight kingpin, Alex Pereira, for the promotion’s vacant Light Heavyweight title. In UFC 295’s co-main event, top-ranked Heavyweight contenders, Sergei Pavlovich (No. 2) and Tom Aspinall (No. 4), will collide for the interim strap after division champion, Jon Jones, was injured with a torn pectoral muscle and forced to withdraw (video).

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“It is a little quick but I know I’m ready for that. There is no reason to not go for that. I asked myself many times if I want the title and my answer is yes, of course, 100 percent yes. I’m ready for it and I know how to win it,” Prochazka told BJPenn.com’s Just Scrap Radio. “I’m just glad to be there where the fighting is taking place, so I can smell the energy of my opponents and their power and their weakness. Just taste the atmosphere and if I don’t fight, it doesn’t matter to me.

“I prepared for both of them. But, mostly, I have been focusing on my mistakes from my fights,” he added. “I have to work on my mistakes because Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira are very good on the ground and in wrestling, they are very good, tough, and strong fighters. I worked to be stronger and get better on the ground and in wrestling. With standup, I’m always working on that every day… “With Jan, I don’t want to say my entire strategy, but I saw his fight against a guy from Czech and I spoke to him about his style, what he does good, the mistakes he makes and I have a strategy and I know which weapon to use, especially for his style.”

UFC 267’s co-main event is an interim Bantamweight title fight pitting former champion Petr Yan vs. Cory Sandhagen. Other meaningful bouts include Islam Makhachev vs. Dan Hooker and Li Jingliang vs. Khamzat Chimaev, as well as appearances by Amanda Ribas, Alexander Volkov, Magomed Ankalaev and Makwan Amirkhnai.

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