Jiri Prochazka clearly embraces his role as an agent of chaos after forcing Khalil Rountree into some wild exchanges and then faceplanting him with a brutal knockout punch in the third round at UFC 320
Through two rounds, Rountree was controlling the pace and landing the better shots but Prochazka wasn’t backing down from the challenge, although he knew that his only path to victory was a finish. That’s exactly what Prochazka delivered after he started scoring with some powerful strikes, which had Rountree damaged and just trying to survive.
Prochazka continued pressing forward until he uncorked a hellacious left hand that sent Rountree crashing face first to the canvas to end the fight at 3:04 in the third and final round.
Afterwards, Prochazka used his interview to call for a chance to face the winner of the UFC 320 main event between Magomed Ankalaev and Alex Pereira.
“Maybe I need to be [in] a lot of chaos and there I will find the calm and the way to win,” Prochazka said. “It was a lot. I need some really dangerous opponent where I will feel the knockout from the first second so I will start 100 percent. I believe that next one will be one of these two who are fighting for the title.
“I already offered Carlos Ulberg to fight, he turned me down to fight [Dominick] Reyes. Believe me or not, my opponent makes my performance and I believe that will be one of these two headlining tonight in the title. My performance will be the best.”
From the opening moments of the fight, Rountree was gunning for the knockout, throwing power from every angle trying to put Prochazka away. In return, Prochazka was wary not to engage in any big exchanges while doing his best to operate on the outside where he enjoyed a reach advantage.
Rountree connected with a thudding shot to the body and Prochazka came right back at him with a jumping knee but he just wasn’t finding a home for his biggest strikes. That problem wasn’t plaguing Rountree, who was continuously chopping away at Prochazka but also showing good defense so he didn’t get caught with a big counter.
Looking to mix things up, Prochazka opened the second round with a spinning back elbow but Rountree was still punishing him to the body and looking to set up his punches to the head. Rountree kept avoiding the unorthodox offense coming from Prochazka and then setting up a well-timed overhand right that kept finding a home on the former light heavyweight champion’s chin.
Rountree was just chipping away at Prochazka with better technique and speed as he was clearly frustrating his opponent throughout the fight.
Down two rounds, Prochazka started throwing caution to the wind and the change in game plan immediately paid dividends. Prochazka was blasting away at punches to the head and kicks to the body and Rountree was starting to fade.
With a badly damaged eye, Rountree was just trying to survive but Prochazka had no intentions of allowing him to hear the final horn. Prochazka just kept firing until he uncorked the punch that blasted Rountree and sent him to the canvas to end the fight.
It was a stunning comeback knockout from Prochazka, who thrives in the wildest moments, as he picked up another win over a ranked opponent while staking his claim to the next title shot against whoever holds the light heavyweight title after Saturday night.
