Jiří Procházka was operated on and will be out for several months. Many say his injury was one of the worst they’ve ever seen. But how did it happen? This has now been explained by Dana White.
There is probably no combat sports fan who is unaware of Jiří Procházka’s injury. Just before defending his title, he injured his shoulder badly and his hopes were gone.
Eventually, the Czech wrestler had to have surgery, which went well, and it looks like he could fight for the champion belt this fall.
But how did he get injured? According to previous statements, we know it was during sparring, but now Dana White has pointed out that there was a big mistake and everything could have been much better.
“The night it happened, we sent a doctor to Jiří and he literally said that in all the years he’s been in the UFC, this is the worst shoulder injury he’s ever seen.
It was really bad. However, Jiří is an incredible fighter, so he wanted to fight anyway, which of course we couldn’t let him. He was about the fact that he tossed his shoulder and when they tossed it back to him in the gym, they ripped and shredded it.
That’s why I tell everyone that when something like this happens, just jump in your car and go to the hospital. We will cover it for them. It’s not worth risking solving it right in the gym. madly,” White said in an interview with Paddy Pimblett that he will headline UFC 282.
When will we see his return?
Afterwards, it was decided how long he would be back. Forecasts were even 8-12 months, while Procházka himself even spoke of five.
“Of course, we discussed what would happen next. Jiří talked about how he thought he’d be back in 5 months, but the doctors were on our side, so we tried to explain to him that we had to be realistic.
I told him I don’t want to put pressure on him, that he will feel he has to defend the title and hurt his shoulder unnecessarily. Instead, he can take it slow, so he finally decided to vacate the title. He is a fighter.
So we have a new title match, but it has to be said that we will still look at Jiří as the champion because he didn’t lose the title, he vacated it so that others could compete for it. It could take two title fights before he returns from surgery, but we’ll see.” White added.
Instead of Procházka, Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev will fight for the title. The victor should defend against Glover Teixeira, and then the Czech samurai should make a comeback.
Source: UFC, MMA shorts
