Alex Pereira has weighed in on Jiri Prochazka’s approach in his UFC 327 title loss to Carlos Ulberg, pointing to the Czech contender’s in-cage decisions during the brief main event in Miami.
Prochazka and Ulberg fought for the UFC light heavyweight championship this past weekend, with Ulberg suffering a knee injury early. Prochazka elected to stand and trade instead of targeting the compromised leg, and Ulberg went on to knock him out before the end of the opening round.
Reacting in a video posted by UFC Brasil, Pereira said, "What happened there, everyone saw that Ulberg got injured," and added, "We don’t know if it was from the kicks or if he was already hurt, but it doesn’t matter. Those are the risks of being in there. He knew that, the responsibility is entirely on the athlete, and that’s part of the game."
Pereira continued, "But during the fight, I was watching and I said, ‘Man, Jiri is going in hard, he looks different,’ and all that," before making it clear he was only offering his own perspective: "I’ll speak for myself," and, "If it were me in there, it’s a fight, you know? Both guys are trained, one wants to hurt the other. Unfortunately, Jiri had some actions that came at a very high cost. I think he learned a lot from it. That’s what I have to say."
Pereira previously vacated the UFC light heavyweight belt before UFC 327 and owns two UFC wins over Prochazka. He is scheduled to face Cyril Gane for an interim heavyweight title in the co-main event of UFC White House on June 14.
