Magomed Ankalaev has brushed off a callout from Jiri Prochazka following Prochazka’s knockout loss to Carlos Ulberg in a vacant light heavyweight title fight at UFC 327.
After the defeat, Prochazka outlined his plans for a return and named Paulo Costa and Ankalaev as potential opponents. "I want to be back, I think around – right now I have the time with my girls, so it will be like two months," Prochazka said.
He added that he was targeting the fall for his comeback. "Right now it's two months really in the big press, so I just came back from after the fight and straight to the hospital. Right now I believe somewhere around October. Right now, (Paulo) Costa or (Magomed) Ankalaev."
Ankalaev, however, rejected the idea, stating that he already has a fight booked and dismissing Prochazka’s callout. An unnamed voice took aim at Prochazka’s position in the division, saying, "Jiri Prochazka got knocked out by a man with one leg and now he calls me out after finding out I already have an opponent. Carlos Ulberg is right this guy is a pretender, he never wanted to really fight me and he’s the number one easy fight in LHW division."
Ankalaev previously ended Alex Pereira’s title reign by defeating him at UFC 313 to become champion, before Pereira evened the score with a first-round TKO win in their rematch at UFC 320. Prochazka holds a 32-6-1 MMA record and 6-3 UFC mark, while Ankalaev sits at 21-2-1 in MMA and 12-2-1 in the UFC.
