Jiri Prochazka reveals he planned to confront Ali Abdelaziz and Magomed Ankalaev over comments before UFC 320

Jiri Prochazka wasn’t pleased with Magomed Ankalaev and Ali Abdelaziz over their comments ahead of UFC 320.

In the lead-up to UFC 320 and even before that, Ankalaev’s social media has aimed at Prochazka and other light heavyweight contenders. Although Alex Pereira has accused Ali Abdelaziz of writing them in the past, Prochazka wasn’t sure. So, he wanted to confront both of them during fight week.

However, Prochazka said his team talked him out of it and told him to focus on his fight.

“Before this fight, I was prepared to go for his manager (Ali Abdelaziz) or for Ankalaev and tell him, ‘What the f**k was this shit, what you spoke about,” Prochazka said to Ariel Helwani. “Why? Why you do that? I didn’t attack you with anything so Why you spoke these bullshits?’ My coach told me, Jiri calm down. Don’t be focused on anybody else.’ I’m happy I did that. I don’t like to be focused on anyone else.”

Jiri Prochazka ended up not confronting Ankalaev or Abdelaziz. Instead, he put his energy into his UFC 320 bout against Khalil Rountree. Prochazka knew the fight wouldn’t be easy, which it wasn’t, but the fan-favorite rallied to get a third-round knockout win.

Jiri Prochazka was rooting for Alex Pereira to beat Magomed Ankalaev

Even though Jiri Prochazka has lost two fights to Alex Pereira, he was rooting for the Brazilian to beat Magomed Ankalaev.

Prochazka wasn’t happy with Ankalaev’s comments and was glad to see Pereira knock him out in the first round.

“You know, win, lose, win, lose, whoever. But Alex and his team, Glover Teixeira there, and all of these guys, we have good relationship with them,” Prochazka said at the post-fight press conference. “I really wished him to win because all this bullshit what Ankalaev brought before and all these nonsenses, what he talked about himself, about others. So that was why I was happy because I saw really angry Alex going forward to Ankalaev. And that was something what I needed to be in my fight, too.”

Although Prochazka called for the trilogy, it is unlikely he will get the Pereira bout next time out.