by 
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Jiri Prochazka heard a rumor in some circles that he keeps his hands down too much.
Some suspected it was his losses to light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira that cost him. And some of them, as Prochazka has heard, happen to be part of the UFC’s commentary team.
At UFC 311 (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Disney+, ESPN+) on Saturday at the Intuit Dome, when Prochazka (31-5-1 MMA, 5-2 UFC) takes on Jamahal Hill (12-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC ), in the end it made no difference. He finished Hill with a third-round TKO and took home a $50,000 bonus.
He also questioned what he plans to do next other than another strike against Pereira – even though the champion just booked a UFC 313 main event against new challenger Magomed Ankalaev.
But if there is still criticism of his hands, Prochazka has a playful message after saying he did everything he could to keep them up against Hill.
“F*ck her. I’ve worked on this so much,” Prochazka said at his post-fight press conference after being told that the broadcast team – Jon Anik, Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier – had mentioned it. “(People) wrote to me every day saying, ‘You need to keep your hands up.’ All right, I’ll do that for this fight, especially for this night.
“(I keep my hand down because) I believe in my senses. I believe in my feeling in a fight – my head movement. That’s why I can keep my hands down. To be honest, in the last fight with Alex I also worked a bit on keeping my hands up. I want to see the video of the fight (against Hill).
When Prochazka doesn’t fight Pereira, he’s just winning fights – and winning bonuses. He received bonuses for all five of his UFC wins – including a double $50,000 night against Dominick Reyes. This gave him a shot at then-champion Blover Teixeira and he finished him at UFC 275 to win the title.
He had to leave it due to injury and when he came back it was against Pereira and he failed. Seven months and another win (and bonus) later, he failed again. It seems questionable whether the UFC wants to keep him on board for a third attempt against Pereira so soon after the last one.
But this is the fight he feels he deserves and he believes things would finally be different in a trilogy fight.
“At the moment I believe what we have achieved with my team in preparation,” said Prochazka. “What we’re doing right now with my mindset, what I can take into the octagon to really enjoy the moment, to really enjoy my peace in the octagon, to take it to another level – that’s why I’m doing this. “I’m enjoying the process .”
For more information on the card, check out MMA Junkie’s UFC 311 event hub.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: If the commentary team is still arguing about Jiri Prochazka after UFC 311: “F*ck them”
