Jiri Prochazka reacts to controversial stoppage in loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 295

Jiri Prochazka has refuted claims that his UFC 295 fight with Alex Pereira was stopped prematurely, despite suffering a second-round loss in the title fight.

Pereira, a former middleweight champion, clinched the vacant light-heavyweight belt with a TKO against Prochazka, but controversy arose as some fans and pundits believed the referee ended the fight prematurely.

Prochazka, 31, was dropped by Pereira, 36, with a left hook and then subjected to a series of elbows before the fight was stopped. However, Prochazka has stood by the referee’s decision despite criticism from fans and fighters on social media.

“Hello everyone, I just want to say to all of you: Thank you for your support,” Prochazka said on Instagram, after failing to regain the light-heavyweight belt that he vacated due to injury in 2022.

“This is for me just motivation, nothing else. Marc Goddard was right. Maybe two or three seconds and it would be a different way, but what happened happened. I accept that. Watch me now. I’ll be back stronger than ever. Thank you for the support.”

Prochazka had also acknowledged the stoppage in the Octagon after the fight, admitting that he was “out” at the end of the bout.

After relinquishing the light-heavyweight title in 2022, former champion Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev fought to a draw with the vacant belt on the line. That result in December meant the title stayed vacant, before Pereira’s victory at UFC 295 made him the ninth two-weight champion in UFC history.

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