Dana White reveals how Jiri Prochazka ‘destroyed his shoulder,’ expects Glover Teixeira to get next title shot
Jiri Prochazka was counting down the days to his first light heavyweight title defense when he suffered a brutal shoulder injury that knocked him out of the UFC 282 main event.
The damage to his shoulder was so severe that Prochazka opted to vacate the 205-pound title rather than hold up the division in his absence. That led to the fight between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev becoming the new UFC 282 main event with the light heavyweight title on the line.
While Prochazka actually teased on social media that he hoped to be back within six months, UFC president Dana White expects a much longer timeline before he can compete again due to the severity of his shoulder injury.
“That night when we were in there and we’re having the meeting and we’re talking about the possibility of him fighting again, he was saying ‘I think I can come back in five months’ and all this s***,” White revealed when appearing on the Paddy Pimblett’s podcast. “The doctor was with us, too, and the doctor was like you need to start being realistic about this.
“The thing I told him was I don’t want you to put that type of pressure on you where you feel like you have to come back in five or six months and destroy your shoulder again. Take the time. Do it right. Get the right surgery and that night he decided then I’m not going to hold up the division, I’m going to vacate the title. Stud.”
According to White, the shoulder injury suffered by Prochazka happened while he was training for his rematch with Glover Teixeira but it was what happened next that really caused the majority of the damage to his arm.
“That night when it all went down and we had our doctor look at him, the doctor literally said in all the years of the UFC, this is the worst shoulder injury we’ve ever seen,” White said. “It’s pretty nasty. Him being the f****** savage that he is, he still wanted to fight. No, you can’t fight, kid. He tore it good.
“What happened was it popped out and he had some guys there at the gym [try to put it back in socket] and it f****** ripped the s*** out of it and destroyed his shoulder. I’ll tell you, tell him, tell all the fighters, if anything happens to you, jump in a f****** car and go to the hospital. We will pay for everything. People think that these guys at the gym can fix your shoulder, do this s***, do that s***, don’t even risk it. Just go to the hospital. It’s crazy.”
White expects Prochazka to be sidelined for quite some time, which is what necessitated the decision to relinquish the title while he’s recovering from shoulder surgery.
Despite giving up the belt, White expects that Prochazka will still be viewed as the top light heavyweight in the world and he’ll get a shot to reclaim the title once he’s healthy again.
Unfortunately, White says that Prochazka probably won’t get that opportunity until after either Blachowicz or Ankalaev already defend the belt.
“He will still be looked at as the champ,” White said about Prochazka. “He never lost the belt. He vacated it. These guys will fight for the title. There might actually be two fights that happen before he’s able to return after that shoulder surgery.”
With Prochazka out of action, White added that former champion Glover Teixeira is already cemented as the No. 1 contender in the division and all signs point towards him getting either Blachowicz or Ankalaev next after UFC 282.
“100 percent [Glover is next],” White said. “The fight was offered to Glover. He didn’t want to take the fight. It will probably be two fights before Jiri comes back so it would be Glover.”