UFC 282 has received a severe blow less than three weeks before its takes place. Jirí Procházka, the reigning UFC Light Heavyweight champion, has suffered a severe shoulder injury that has not only left him out of the last PPV of this 2022, but has also cost him the championship he won this year.
And according to the UFC prez Dana White himself, the injury is the worst the doctors have seen in the promotion in years.
Kevin Lole of Yahoo! Sports was the first to reveal ‘BJP’s injury, which is expected to sideline him for a year atleast.
BREAKING: Jiri Prochazka PUT of UFC 282 with serious injury. Glover turned down title fight. Jiri vacated. New main event is Blachowicz vs Ankalaev. Story soon on @YahooSports
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) November 23, 2022
Brett Okamoto of ESPN later pointed out, according to the fighter’s representatives and the UFC itself, it was Prochazka who decided to relinquish the belt out of respect for the other contenders in the category.
Jiri Prochazka is out of UFC 282 due to a severe orthopedic injury. Timeframe for recovery is upwards of a year. According to UFC and Jiri's representatives, it was his decision to vacate the belt out of respect for other contenders. Jiri's injury first reported by @KevinI.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) November 23, 2022
As a result, the highly anticipated rematch between Glover Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka will no longer take place on December 10 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas at UFC 282 and in turn, Jan Blachowicz vs Magomed Ankalev will serve as the headliner.
UFC president Dana White revealed that the organization’s doctors classified the injury as “the worst in history” and that Jiri Prochazka will undergo surgery and a lengthy rehab will follow.
“This is the worst shoulder injury the doctors have seen in UFC history. It’s really f***ing bad. His shoulder is very, very bad. He’s going to have serious surgery that will require extensive rehab,” White revealed to Yahoo Sports, “We met with Jiri last night and listen, this guy is one of the classiest humans of all-time,” White said. “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. Let me tell you, that kid’s a stud, man, to react like that.”
The UFC prez also added that Ankalev was offered to Teixeira as a replacement for Prochazka, but the veteran Brazilian didn’t want the fight.
“We offered Glover the fight [against Ankalaev]. For some reason, he didn’t want the fight, so we had to move on,” White added, “If we couldn’t have the rematch, getting Ankalaev, who has the second-longest winning streak in light heavyweight history, and 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.
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