Jiri Prochazka doesn’t appreciate UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev going off on him.
Prochazka (31-5-1 MMA, 5-2 UFC) congratulated Ankalaev (21-1-1 MMA, 12-1-1 UFC) for his title-winning performance against Alex Pereira in Saturday’s UFC 313 main event, and initially issued “Poatan” a challenge. He then changed his tune and said it’s a better idea to go straight for the title.
Ankalaev was pretty hostile in his response.
“I think you are a fraud and so many guys deserve it more than you you need to go win some fights.”
“His mouth, what he’s saying is something that, I don’t like it,” Prochazka said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “I don’t like it. I like all the people except him. But he’s too much, too much. His last tweet on me, he doesn’t know me. He doesn’t know me. I don’t know him personally. One thing that I can say to Ankalaev: He can think whatever he wants, but I know that the only person who is a fraud is him.
“Because when I met him at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, he was there. He was very nice, friendly, ‘Hello, nice to meet you. All good?’ And right now, he’s a superstar, big gangster and playing these games. He is hyped, and I understand. He won the title against the worst performance of Alex Pereira. The only fraud here is Magomed Ankalaev.”
Ankalaev went on to call Prochazka a terrible fighter. Prochazka was able to rebound from his title loss to Pereira by knocking out former champ Jamahal Hill at UFC 311.
“Worst fighter? Every time I’m giving everything into my fights, going to finish my opponents and to give it my all,” Prochazka responded. “Not like him. When he’s fighting, he’s many times in the second or third rounds. When there’s a high performance, he’s trying to run away from the performance, from the aggressive attacks.
“So, that gives me only one meaning. The only fraud person here is Magomed Ankalaev. I don’t care about this guy. I just want to go and catch the title. Right now he’s a champion. But nobody respects that he’s a champion.”
Ankalaev added one final jab towards Prochazka for suffering two knockout losses to Pereira in title fights.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 313.
