Jiri Prochazka is blaming an act of mercy for his knockout loss to Carlos Ulberg, who blew out his knee and was fighting with one working leg in the first round of their UFC 327 main event last weekend in Miami. So if “BJP” was being merciful, why was he also kicking Ulberg’s injured leg every time “Black Jag” stepped forward to engage?
Probably because UFC color commentator Joe Rogan manufactured the “mercy” narrative in the Czech’s post-fight interview, which is unquestionably a much better angle
than, “Hey Jiri, how did you manage to get yourself knocked out by a man with one leg?”
“Bullsh*t, total bullsh*t — that’s fear,” Ulberg told Ariel Helwani about the mercy excuse. “That was fear that he had. That wasn’t any kind of mercy. That’s the difference between a champion and someone who’s just playing for the crowd. There was no mercy in there. He was full of fear, hesitation, and that’s what got him clipped. He’s a pretender, and he knew that I knew he’s a pretender. I’ve always known it. That’s not a real fighter, no. That’s just someone who’s trying to play to the crowd. Once people to believe a narrative, when that word merciful was fed into his mouth, that was his excuse, so that he could hopefully get a rematch. There is no way he gets that rematch. I don’t see him getting past [Magomed] Ankalaev. He gets his ass beat by Ankalaev.”
Ankalaev was equally unkind in his assessment of Prochazka.
“Jiri Prochazka, he kept kicking Carlos’s legs, he did not show him any mercy,” Ankalaev wrote on social media. “Fake. Prochazka been knocked out three of his last six fights. I don’t wanna hear his name anymore in the title picture, enough is enough. Jiri, never talk about me again. You only can talk about me if you wanna fight. Let’s fight next, I dare you to call me out. None of these guys are my level. Congratulations Carlos.”
Ankalaev (20-2-1, 1 NC) is currently ranked No. 1 at 205 pounds.
But the former light heavyweight champion will have to spend the rest of the year on the sidelines if he wants a 205-pound title shot. That’s because Ulberg’s going to need an extended recovery timeline to rehab the damage done to his knee — which may require surgery, depending on his upcoming medical exam.
It doesn’t sound promising.
“It was just a freak accident,” Ulberg continued. “I’ll get the scans done when I arrive in Las Vegas this week and we’ll know everything. It’s just swollen at the moment. It’s hard to get up, so definitely something going on in there. It takes me a while now to get anywhere, so I’m definitely walking like an old man. The knee felt like it was kind of going in and out of the socket. I couldn’t bear any weight on that leg. And every time I would push off that right foot or step or put any kind of weight on that leg, then it would give out. So yeah, the pain that I had to go through was unbearable.”
Until then … Jiri vs. Ankalaev for the next light heavyweight title shot?
