Jiri Prochazka prides himself on being scary focused on whatever obstacle he’s trying to conquer.
Sometimes that’s literally climbing a mountain or fighting back against the fear of swimming under ice on a frozen lake but that also carries over to his fight career. In a sport so often driven by the question of ‘what comes next,” Prochazka prefers keeping his sights set on the person about to stand across from him in the octagon, which is why Carlos Ulberg is getting all of his attention ahead of their title fight at UFC 327.
As natural as it may seem to talk about a future trilogy against Alex Pereira or the looming specter that UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev might eventually move to 205 pounds. Prochazka prefers to deny anybody else’s existence for the time being.
“Just Saturday night,” Prochazka told MMA Fighting about his focus. “After that fight, we can speak about the next options. But right now, the title fight is here. All what I’ve worked on is right now, right here. This is the week.
“No, there is no other things. No other opponents. F*ck the others. There is just me and my art and what I want to show. This is all.”
Eliminating distractions is a huge part of Prochazka’s approach to fighting, which is why he prefers thinking about UFC 327 and Saturday night as the last day he’s guaranteed anything on this Earth.
Of course, Prochazka never fully ignores what’s happening outside the cage — most importantly right now is the birth of his daughter, which is expected very soon — but when it comes to fighting there’s nobody else to think about besides Ulberg.
“Yes, this is what I like. This is what I like,” Prochazka said. “Because you can be totally focused. There is no celebration. There is no other day. No other things. I have to count the other days because my family is waiting for me, there is the birth of my kid and all these other things. Yes, I come with that but also, I am ready to do anything for a win on Saturday night.
“It’s not [counting] the days after Saturday night but it’s about to be fully focused for Saturday night and be here and now and do my best on Saturday night. Win the belt, go home and see how my daughter will be born.”
Prochazka’s title shot against Ulberg effectively happened because Pereira vacated the light heavyweight championship to move to heavyweight where he’s scheduled to face Ciryl Gane at the UFC White House card in June.
With two losses against “Poatan” in the past, Prochazka can’t completely ignore his desire to run it back for a third time but as soon as he learned that he was facing Ulberg instead, he had to put that trilogy out of his mind.
It turns out, Prochazk actually saw that Pereira’s move to heavyweight coming months before anybody else knew it was going to happen so he had plenty of time to adjust.
“I saw that coming,” Prochazka said about Pereira leaving the division. “We spoke with UFC about this a long time before it happened. We knew that with my team a long time before it happened. I prepared myself one and a half months before it was announced to everyone that I will have to fight with Carlos Ulberg. First month was just I believed that will happen. Then we transferred to Mexico City for high altitude training, we trained there for one month and we came back and then UFC told me ‘you will have the title fight.’ We just believed for this option and it happened. I’m glad for that. Really glad.
“I was just focusing for Carlos Ulberg. If there is an opponent before me, there is no other man who I’m focused [on]. I believe that we will meet in the future with Alex, also, but right now I’m fully focused for my next opponent. That’s all.”
As much as he tries to ignore the future until his next mission is completed, Prochazka admits that visualization is still a big part of his preparation. He’s envisioned his win over Ulberg and getting that UFC title wrapped back around his waist but he still prefers not even talking about that publicly.
Instead, Prochazka internalizes everything but he’s definitely seen the conclusion of UFC 327 in his own mind.
“For sure, I’m doing that but I’m not speaking about that loudly,” Prochazka said. “Because I think it’s a very, very personal thing and I believe in all these things you have to keep all these pictures inside your mind and just keep the vibe of that and expose it by what you’re doing.
“Not just by your words but what I do, that’s the most important [thing]. I believe I will do that Saturday night.”