Jiří Procházka: from Rizin champion to UFC light heavyweight champion | Ultimate Fighter Reunion

Why fans still care

JIŘÍ PROCHÁZKA is one of the hardest fighters in the sport to predict. He keeps his hands low, switches stances and attacks from odd angles. Twenty-eight of his 32 wins have come by knockout. He also became the UFC light heavyweight champion after one of the best title fights of 2022.

Early life

He was born on 14 October 1992 and comes from Hostěradice in South Moravia. He lives in a cottage about 30 minutes outside Brno, with no gas and water from a well. He follows Bushido ideas and Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings, the old Japanese text on strategy, in place of an organised religion. “Every move must be attacking,” he told ESPN.

Getting started

His professional debut came on 7 April 2012, a first-round knockout of Stanislav Futera. He fought across the Czech Republic and eastern Europe, losing twice early on, then went to Japan.

Career chapters

1. 2012Professional debut
2. 2015Reaches the final of Rizin’s heavyweight Grand Prix
3. 2019Wins Rizin’s first light heavyweight title
4. 2020UFC debut
5. 2021Spinning back elbow knockout of Dominick Reyes
6. 2022Wins the UFC light heavyweight title from Glover Teixeira, then vacates it through injury
7. 2023Loses to Alex Pereira, Who’s Who number 36 for the vacant title
8. 2024Beats Aleksandar Rakić, then loses to Pereira again
9. 2025Beats Jamahal Hill and Khalil Rountree Jr.
10. 2026Loses a title fight to Carlos Ulberg

Rizin, Japan 2015 to 2019

At the end of 2015 he reached the final of Rizin’s heavyweight Grand Prix, beating Satoshi Ishii and Vadim Nemkov before Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal knocked him out. He went on a run of finishes, and on 21 April 2019 at Rizin 15 in Yokohama he stopped Lawal in the third round to become Rizin’s first light heavyweight champion. Rizin matchmaker Shingo Kashiwagi later said, “I think Jiri was more Japanese than many of us over here in Japan.”

Into the UFC 2020 to 2021

He signed with the UFC as Rizin’s light heavyweight champion. In his debut at UFC 251 in July 2020 he knocked out Volkan Oezdemir in the second round. In May 2021, after switching stances through the first round, he knocked out Dominick Reyes with a spinning back elbow in the second, only the third knockout of its kind in UFC history. “I just flow,” he said.

Champion 2022

On 11 June 2022 (US date) at UFC 275 in Singapore he challenged Glover Teixeira for the title. Teixeira had never been submitted in 40 fights. Procházka was behind on two of the three cards going into the fifth round. Late in that round, with Teixeira on top of him, he escaped off the cage, took Teixeira’s back and choked him out at 4:32, becoming the first Czech fighter to win a UFC title. Sherdog named it the 2022 Fight of the Year, and UFC.com put it first in its fights of the year. An injury forced him out of the rematch, and he vacated the title in November 2022.

Pereira and after 2023 to now

He returned at UFC 295 in November 2023 to fight Alex Pereira, Who’s Who number 36 for the vacant title and was stopped by elbows in the second round. In April 2024 he stopped Aleksandar Rakić at UFC 300, then lost a rematch to Pereira at UFC 303 that June, stopped 13 seconds into the second round. In 2025 he stopped Jamahal Hill, and at UFC 320 he knocked out Khalil Rountree Jr. with a left hand after a body attack in the third round, taking both Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night. In April 2026 at UFC 327 he lost to Carlos Ulberg for the vacant title in the first round. He is booked to headline a UFC Fight Night in Doha against Navajo Stirling on 21 November 2026, over five rounds. “My main weapon is to adjust,” he said before it.

Style, technique and the corner

How he fights

UFC.com lists his base style as karate, his favourite strike as the jumping knee and his favourite grappling move as the guillotine. He keeps his hands low on purpose. “With the hands down, this is your natural posture,” he said on The Joe Rogan Experience. He switches stances, attacks the body and finishes on the ground when the chance comes, as he did against Teixeira. “Some people say my style is unpredictable,” he told AFP. UFC.com credits him with 5.61 significant strikes landed per minute.

Teams and gyms

He trains at Jetsaam Gym in Brno under head coach Martin Karaivanov, with Jaroslav Hovězák as MMA coach. For UFC 295 he also worked with Eric Nicksick of Xtreme Couture, who said, “The best trait of Jiri Prochazka is his unpredictability.”

Stories people still tell

1. The last-minute choke.

   Behind on two cards, he submitted Teixeira with less than half a minute left.

2. The spinning elbow.

   His knockout of Reyes was only the third of its kind in UFC history.

3. Avenging King Mo.

   He lost the 2015 Rizin final to Lawal, then beat him for Rizin’s first light heavyweight title.

Legacy

He has held light heavyweight titles in Rizin and the UFC, and his win over Teixeira was the 2022 Fight of the Year for Sherdog and UFC.com. Twenty-eight of his 32 wins are knockouts.