Dana White comments on Jiri Prochazka shoulder injury: ‘It’s the worst shoulder injury, it’s really f*cking bad’
UFC president, Dana White has confirmed promotional light heavyweight champion, Jiri Prochazka has been forced from his scheduled UFC 282 title defense rematch with Glover Teixeira due to a significant shoulder injury, describing the setback as the worst shoulder injury doctor’s under the UFC banner have ever seen.
Initially scheduled to take main event honors at UFC 282 later this month in a championship rematch against Teixeira, Prochazka has since been forced from the fight on December 10. against the Brazilian, electing to officially relinquish his light heavyweight title to boot.
As a result, former champion, Polish contender, Jan Blachowicz will now headline the end-of-year flagship event against Russina challenger, Magomed Ankalaev in a vacant title fight.
Dana White praises Jiri Prochazka’s decision to vacate the light heavyweight crown
Confirming Jiri Prochazka will require upwards of a year in order to rehabilitate his shoulder injury, the aforenoted, White described the injury as the worst shoulder trauma UFC doctor’s have ever experienced.
“This is the worst shoulder injury the doctors have seen in UFC history,” Dana White told Yahoo! Sports reporter, Kevin Iole. “It’s really f*cking bad. His (Jiri Prochazka) shoulder is very, very bad. He’s going to have serious surgery that will require extensive rehab.”
“We met with Jiri last night and listen, this guy is one of the classiest humans of all-time,” White continued. “He is such a warrior and was so bummed out. He brought up stepping aside to us before we ever got there. He’s going to be out a long time and at some point, we would probably have had to strip him. But he brought it up to us and said out of respect for the other fighters, he didn’t want to hold up the division. Le me tell you, that kid’s a stud, man, to react like that.”
White then confirmed how former champion, Teixeira was offered a vacant title fight against the aforenoted, Ankalaev in lieu of Jiri Prochazka’s withdrawal, which he ultimately rejected.
“We offered Glover the fight [against Magomed Ankalaev],” White explained. “For some reason, he didn’t want the fight, so we had to move on. If we couldn’t have the rematch, getting Ankalaev, who has the second-longest winning streak in light heavyweight history, and (Jan) Blachowicz, who is the former champion, is really fortunate. It all fell into place for us as it often seems to do. But that’s a great fight, too, and now it’s for the full title.”
