Jiří Procházka was unable to reclaim the UFC light heavyweight title in a rematch with Alex Pereira this past weekend in Las Vegas.
Despite believing that he had made some significant adjustments for his approach this time around, UFC 303 was a far more one-sided affair than their previous encounter last November.
Though it is true that Procházka was having success in the first fight until he was stopped in the second round, he was seemingly fighting a losing battle mostly due to the damage that was done to his leg early on in the fight.
The same thing happened on Saturday night but Pereira was able to find a home for his devastating left hook even earlier on this occasion, before finishing the fight at the start of the second round with a head kick.
Firas Zahabi Criticizes Jiří Procházka For Being Happy To Strike With Alex Pereira
The highly-regarded MMA coach Firas Zahabi gave his breakdown of the fight during a recent video on the Tristar Gym YouTube channel.
He was very critical of the approach that Procházka came into the rematch with because there wasn’t enough emphasis placed on switching things up on Pereira.
Zahabi referenced how there is a stark difference in the amount of MMA experience that both men have, with Procházka coming into the main event with 36 pro fights compared to Pereira’s 13.
The former coach of Georges St-Pierre couldn’t understand why the challenger wouldn’t look to take advantage of this by trying to take the former world champion kickboxing out of his comfort zone.
“You’d think Jiří would have like 10 more years under his belt in wrestling and still he didn’t even fathom a takedown. He tried one little clinch, he didn’t even knock on that door. Very disappointing strategy by Jiří. Jiří was just seemingly happy to strike and I will tell you, within the first minute of round one, “Poatan” had landed like four kicks and you could tell he was already hurting Jiří’s leg.
“Jiří’s game plan and performance, I think that was his worst approach to a fight ever, he’s ever had. I heard he was like three days in a cave somewhere meditating, thinking about this fight, how he’s going to approach it. Unfortunately for him it really didn’t work.”
