Czech MMA fighter

Jiří Procházka (Czech: ; ; born October 14, 1992) is a Czech professional mixed martial artist and former amateur Muay Thai kickboxer. He currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is the inaugural and former Rizin FF Light Heavyweight Champion and also the inaugural and former Czech GCF Light Heavyweight Champion. Prochazka is ranked #5 light heavyweight in the world by Fight Matrix in July 1, 2021. As of May 4, 2021, he is also ranked #2 in the UFC light heavyweight rankings.

Contents

• 1 Background
• 2 Mixed martial arts career
  • 2.1 Gladiator Fighting Championship
    • 2.1.1 Inaugural Light Heavyweight Champion
  • 2.2 Rizin Fighting Federation
    • 2.2.1 World Grand Prix 2015
    • 2.2.2 2016
    • 2.2.3 2017
    • 2.2.4 2018
  • 2.3 Ultimate Fighting Championship
• 3 Personal life
• 4 Championships and achievements
  • 4.1 Mixed martial arts
  • 4.2 Muay Thai
• 5 Mixed martial arts record
• 6 See also
• 7 Filmography
  • 7.1 Television
  • 7.2 Web
• 8 References
• 9 External links

Background

Procházka was born on October 14, 1992 in the south Moravian part of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (now Czech Republic). Procházka's father died when he was 6 years old.

In his youth, Procházka played amateur football for TJ Družstevník Hostěradice. He was also an active freestyle BMX rider and a floorball player.

Mixed martial arts career

Gladiator Fighting Championship

Procházka made his professional MMA debut in April 2012 for the Gladiator Fighting Championship, the biggest promotion in his native Czech Republic at the time.

Inaugural Light Heavyweight Champion

In his tenth professional bout, he won the inaugural GCF Light Heavyweight Championship in the back-and-forth fight against Czech MMA pioneer Martin Šolc via flying knee knockout on December 7, 2013 at GCF 26 FN. Video of the bout went viral in Czechia and Procházka was also awarded a post-fight bonus. The fight was later awarded 'Czech Fight of the Year' by major media outlets.

Procházka defended his *le against Tomáš Penz on June 6, 2014 at GCF 28: Cage Fight 4. He won the fight via technical knockout due to a flying knee in 41 seconds.

Procházka signed a deal with the Rizin Fighting Federation shortly before his win against Evgeni Kondratov. After am*ing a record of 14–2–1 during his first three years in the sport, Procházka as the first Czech entered the Rizin Fighting Federation in 2015.

Rizin Fighting Federation

World Grand Prix 2015

Procházka made his promotional debut against Satoshi Ishii on December 29, 2015 in the World Grand Prix 2015 -100 kg tournament at the Rizin FF's first event Saraba no Utake. He won the quarter-final fight via knockout in the first round.

Procházka's next fight in the Rizin FF's -100 kg tournament was at Iza no Mai on December 31, 2015. He won the semi-final fight against Vadim Nemkov via technical knockout, and then lost in the final fight against Muhammed Lawal via knockout in the first round. Procházka weighed in at 95.9 kgs (211.5 pounds) for the tournament.

2016

Procházka faced Kazuyuki Fujita on April 17, 2016 at Rizin 1 at a catchweight of 110 kgs (242.5 pounds). Procházka weighed in at 98.6 kgs (217.3 pounds) for the bout. He won the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

Procházka faced Mark Tanios on September 25, 2016 at Rizin 2 - Rizin Fighting World Grand Prix 2016: Opening Round. He won the fight via unanimous decision. Procházka suffered a knee injury during the fight and was subsequently pulled from the tournament.

2017

Procházka faced Willian Roberto Alves on September 29, 2017, at Fusion FN 16 - Cage Fight, the homecoming event organized by his team. He won the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

Procházka faced Karl Albrektsson on December 29, 2017 at Rizin Fighting World Grand Prix 2017 - Bantamweight Tournament: 2nd Round. He won the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

2018

Procházka faced Bruno Henrique Cappelozza on July 28, 2018, at Rizin 11. He won the fight via knockout in the first round.

Procházka faced Jake Heun on September 30, 2018 at Rizin 13. He won the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

Procházka was scheduled to face Emanuel Newton on December 31, 2018 at Rizin 14. However, Newton was pulled out of the fight, citing a rib injury. Procházka remained on the card and was rescheduled to face Brandon Halsey. He won the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

Procházka faced Muhammed Lawal in rematch on April 21, 2019 at Rizin 15 for the inaugural Rizin FF Light Heavyweight Championship. He won the fight via technical knockout in the third round.

Procházka faced Fábio Maldonado on October 12, 2019 at Rizin 19: Lightweight Grand Prix 1st Round at a catchweight of 100 kgs (220.4 pounds). Procházka weighed in at 97.90 kgs (215.8 pounds) for the bout. He won the fight via knockout in the first round.

Procházka defended his *le against C. B. Dollaway on December 31, 2019, at Rizin 20. He won the fight via knockout in the first round. This was the last fight on the Procházka's contract with Rizin. After the fight, he signed a new deal with the UFC and vacated his *le.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Procházka signed a contract with the UFC in January 2020. He made his promotional debut against former UFC Light Heavyweight *le challenger Volkan Oezdemir on July 11, 2020 at UFC 251. He won via knockout in the second round and was awarded a Performance of the Night bonus award.

Procházka was expected to face two–time UFC Light Heavyweight Championship *le challenger Dominick Reyes on February 27, 2021 at UFC Fight Night 186. However, in late January, Reyes was pulled from the fight, due to injury, and the bout was rescheduled for May 1, 2021 at UFC on ESPN: Reyes vs. Procházka. In a back and forth fight, Procházka won the fight via knockout in the second round. With this win, he was awarded the Performance of the Night and Fight of the Night bonus awards.

Procházka was scheduled to face Glover Teixeira for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship on May 7, 2022 at UFC 274. However, the bout was postponed to June 11, 2022 at UFC 275 for undisclosed reasons.

Personal life

Procházka is well-known as a devoted follower of the Bushido principles, the samurai moral values and the Miyamoto Musashi's teachings and philosophy, especially the Musashi's The Book of Five Rings, which Procházka considered as a life-changing book for him.

He is a supporter of FC Zbrojovka Brno and was involved in organized football hooliganism, including pre-arranged fights, until he started his professional combat sports career.

Besides his native Czech, Procházka is conversational in English (as of his UFC debut). While competing in UFC and Rizin FF, Procházka attended Masaryk University for his bachelor’s degree, majoring in security forces physical fitness policy He is also a graduate of the his local Protective Service Secondary Academy (Czech: SOŠ OOM), now the Brno's School of Law & Security (Czech: BPA).

Procházka is known for his catchphrase, "BJP" (B'e-y'e-p'e; Czech: ). It is the Czech initialism for "Bomby jak píča(!)" (English: Bomb The * Out of 'Em), it is Procházka's battle cry and also the name of his merchandise brand.

His unusual nickname, the Czech girl's given name Denisa, equivalent to English Denise, and Deniska (English: Denni), the diminutive of it, originated during a training camp, where Procházka had mistakenly responded to his trainer's call for another fighter, the girl of that name.

Championships and achievements

Mixed martial arts

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • Performance of the Night (Two times) vs. Volkan Oezdemir and Dominick Reyes
  • Fight of the Night (One time) vs. Dominick Reyes
  • 2021 Half-Year Awards: Best Fight of the 1HY vs. Dominick Reyes
• Rizin Fighting Federation
  • Rizin FF Light Heavyweight Championship (Inaugural)
    • 1 successful *le defense
  • 2015 RIZIN Heavyweight Grand Prix Runner Up
• Gladiator Fighting Championship
  • GFC Light Heavyweight Championship (Inaugural)
    • 1 successful *le defense
• ESPN
  • 2021 Midyear MMA Awards: Best Finish of the 1HY vs. Dominick Reyes
• Fight Club News Awards
  • 2013 Czech Fight of the Year vs. Martin Šolc on December 7
• MMAjunkie.com
  • 2021 May Knockout of the Month vs. Dominick Reyes

Muay Thai

2011 Czech National Championships champion (−86.18:kg)

Mixed martial arts record

See also

• List of current UFC fighters
• List of male mixed martial artists

Filmography

Television

Web

References

1. "Jetsaam Gym má dva mistry ČR v thajském boxu". Bojové Sporty. 2011-07-28.
2. "Superliga a evropský pohár 30. června v SaSaZu - pozvánka". Extra Round. 2011-06-22.
3. "Superliga a Evropský pohár v SaSaZu - výsledkový servis". Extra Round. 2011-06-30.
4. "Superliga a Evropský pohár v SaSaZu - výsledkový servis". FightNews.cz. 2011-06-30. Archived from the original on 2012-01-19.
5. "30.6. SUPERLIGA - EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP- PRAHA SASAZU". WFCA CZE. 2011-08-16.

External links

• Jiri Prochazka at UFC
• Professional MMA record for Jiri Prochazka from Sherdog
• Official website

Updated to 16 May 2022