Jiri Prochazka before fighting in the UFC. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram
Days after being knocked out by Alex Poatán for the second time competing for the light heavyweight belt (up to 93 kg) in the main fight of UFC 303, last Saturday (29), Jiri Prochazka scared some fans when he contemplated the possibility of retiring at 31. The Czech's coach, however, has other plans for his pupil.
In an interview with the Czech portal 'tncz', Martin Kairanov began by stating that he still doesn't understand what led to the dominance of Alex Poatán about Jiri Prochazka No. UFC 303 and ensured that the pupil was ready to compete.
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“Everything was great. I do not know what happened. Jiri even said later that he couldn't get into the fight. This time everything was great before the fight. Everything was in sync, Jiri was really ready. We wouldn’t have accepted it with such little time if we hadn’t been sure it was ready,” he said.
Finally, the coach said that he, Prochazka and the rest of the team will watch the fight against Poatan to correct the mistakes, ruled out the former champion's retirement and pointed out a move to middleweight (up to 83,9 kg) as possible and ideal for the pupil's future.
“We will watch the fight, recap what happened and define the consequences for the next training sessions. We're certainly not done, let's continue. Speaking for myself, I see it as a fresh start and a positive step towards something. He is still old enough to be a relatively good fit at midfield. Of course we will talk about it. It won't be my decision, but a team decision. Middleweight should mean a new beginning”, he concluded.
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