Jiří Procházka

Jiří Procházka (born October 14, 1992) is a Czech professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He was the inaugural Rizin Fighting Federation Light Heavyweight Champion and the inaugural Gladiator Fighting Championship Light Heavyweight Champion. As of April 16, 2024, he is #1 in the UFC light heavyweight rankings.

Early life
Procházka was born on October 14, 1992, in a hospital in Znojmo in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic), but he comes from the nearby village of Hostěradice. Procházka's father died when he was six years old. In his youth, Procházka played amateur football for TJ Družstevník Hostěradice. He was also an active freestyle BMX rider and a floorball player.

As a teen, Procházka partook in street fights almost weekly, getting into more than 100 of them. This eventually led him to join the hooligan club tied to Procházka's local football team, FC Zbrojovka Brno, where he would take part in organized group street fights with clubs of other teams, even participating in 30-on-30 brawls.

Procházka first encountered mixed martial arts before beginning high school, after a friend showed him videos of kickboxer Ramon Dekkers and mixed martial artists Mirko Filipovic and Fedor Emelianenko. After watching the film Never Back Down, he began to train in martial arts, in particular Thai boxing.

Debut and initial fights
Procházka made his professional MMA debut in April 2012 for the Gladiator Fighting Championship, the biggest promotion in his native Czech Republic at the time. He amassed a 7–2 record within his first two years of fighting professionally.

Inaugural Light Heavyweight Champion
In his tenth professional bout, he won the inaugural GCF Light Heavyweight Championship in the back-and-forth fight against Czech MMA pioneer Martin Šolc via flying knee knockout on December 7, 2013, at GCF 26 FN. Video of the bout went viral in the Czech Republic and Procházka was also awarded a post-fight bonus. The fight was later awarded 'Czech Fight of the Year' by major media outlets.

Procházka defended his title against Tomáš Penz on June 6, 2014, at GCF 28: Cage Fight 4. He won the fight via technical knockout due to a flying knee in 41 seconds.

Procházka signed a deal with the Rizin Fighting Federation shortly before his win against Evgeni Kondratov. After amassing a record of 14–2–1 during his first three years in the sport, Procházka as the first Czech entered the Rizin Fighting Federation in 2015.

Heavyweight Grand Prix
Procházka made his promotional debut against Satoshi Ishii on December 29, 2015, in the World Grand Prix 2015 –100 kg tournament at the Rizin FF's first event Saraba no Utake. He won the quarter-final fight via knockout in the first round.

Procházka's next fight in the Rizin FF's -100 kg tournament was at Iza no Mai on December 31, 2015. He won the semi-final fight against Vadim Nemkov via technical knockout. Later that same night, he lost in the final round against Muhammed Lawal via knockout in the first round. Procházka weighed in at 95.9 kgs (211.5 pounds) for the tournament.

Procházka faced Kazuyuki Fujita on April 17, 2016, at Rizin 1 at a catchweight of 110 kgs (242.5 pounds). Procházka weighed in at 98.6 kgs (217.3 pounds) for the bout. He won the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

Procházka faced Mark Tanios on September 25, 2016, at Rizin 2 - Rizin Fighting World Grand Prix 2016: Opening Round. He won the fight via unanimous decision. Procházka suffered a knee injury during the fight and was subsequently pulled from the tournament.

Return to Light Heavyweight
Procházka faced Willian Roberto Alves on September 29, 2017, at Fusion FN 16 - Cage Fight, the homecoming event organized by his team. He won the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

Procházka faced Karl Albrektsson on December 29, 2017, at Rizin Fighting World Grand Prix 2017 - Bantamweight Tournament: 2nd Round. He won the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

Procházka faced Bruno Cappelozza on July 28, 2018, at Rizin 11. He won the fight via knockout in the first round.

Procházka faced Jake Heun on September 30, 2018, at Rizin 13. He won the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

Procházka was scheduled to face Emanuel Newton on December 31, 2018, at Rizin 14. However, Newton was pulled out of the fight, citing a rib injury. Procházka remained on the card and was rescheduled to face Brandon Halsey. He won the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

Inaugural Light Heavyweight Champion
Procházka faced Muhammed Lawal in rematch on April 21, 2019, at Rizin 15 for the inaugural Rizin FF Light Heavyweight Championship. He won the fight via technical knockout in the third round.

Procházka faced Fábio Maldonado on October 12, 2019, at Rizin 19: Lightweight Grand Prix 1st Round at a catchweight of 100 kgs (220.4 pounds). Procházka weighed in at 97.90 kgs (215.8 pounds) for the bout. He won the fight via knockout in the first round.

Procházka defended his title against C. B. Dollaway on December 31, 2019, at Rizin 20. He won the fight via knockout in the first round. This was the last fight on the Procházka's contract with Rizin. After the fight, he signed a new deal with the UFC and vacated his title.

Debut and contender fight
Procházka signed a contract with the UFC in January 2020. He made his promotional debut against former UFC Light Heavyweight title challenger Volkan Oezdemir on July 11, 2020, at UFC 251. He won via knockout in the second round and was awarded a Performance of the Night bonus award. With this win, he's the only man to give Oezdemir a KO loss in his MMA career.

Procházka was expected to face two–time UFC Light Heavyweight Championship title challenger Dominick Reyes on February 27, 2021, at UFC Fight Night 186. However, in late January, Reyes was pulled from the fight, due to injury, and the bout was rescheduled for May 1, 2021, at UFC on ESPN: Reyes vs. Procházka. In a back and forth fight, Procházka won the fight via knockout in the second round. With this win, he was awarded the Performance of the Night and Fight of the Night bonus awards.

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
Procházka was scheduled to face Glover Teixeira for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship on May 7, 2022, at UFC 274. However, the bout was postponed to June 11, 2022, at UFC 275 for undisclosed reasons. In a back-and-forth fight which saw both fighters get dropped multiple times, Procházka won the bout and title via rear-naked choke submission in the fifth round, becoming the first Czech fighter to win a UFC championship. This fight earned him the Fight of the Night award and the Crypto.com "Fan Bonus of the Night" award paid in bitcoin of US$20,000 for second place.

Procházka was booked to rematch Teixeira at UFC 282 on December 10, 2022. However, it was announced on November 23, 2022, that Procházka was forced out of the fight due to an injury to his right shoulder, and that he had vacated the title.

Procházka faced former UFC Middleweight champion Alex Pereira for the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight Championship belt on November 11, 2023, at UFC 295. He lost by knockout in the second round.

Post championship
Procházka faced Aleksandar Rakić on April 13, 2024 at UFC 300. Despite taking numerous leg kicks, Procházka came back and won the bout by technical knockout in the second round. Due to the UFC increasing the payout of post fight bonuses from $50,000 to $300,000 for the event, this fight earned him a $300,000 Performance of the Night award.

On two weeks notice, replacing the bout between Michael Chandler and Conor McGregor, who was injured, Procházka faced Alex Pereira in a rematch for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship on June 29, 2024, at UFC 303. After being knocked down in the last second of the first round with a left hook, he lost the bout via a head kick knockdown followed by punches early in the second round.

Personal life
Procházka is well-known as a devoted follower of the Bushido principles, the samurai moral values and Miyamoto Musashi's teachings and philosophy, especially Musashi's The Book of Five Rings, which Procházka considers a life-changing book for him.

He is a supporter of FC Zbrojovka Brno and was involved in organized football hooliganism, including pre-arranged fights, until he started his professional combat sports career.

Besides his native Czech, Procházka is conversational in English and has actively improved his proficiency in the language since joining the promotion. While competing in UFC and Rizin FF, Procházka attended Masaryk University for his bachelor’s degree, majoring in security forces physical fitness policy. He is also a graduate of his local Protective Service Secondary Academy (Czech: SOŠ OOM), now the Brno's School of Law & Security (Czech: BPA).

Procházka is known for his catchphrase, "BJP" (B'e-y'e-p'e; ). It is the Czech initialism for "Bomby jak piča(!)" (English: Bomb The Shit Out of 'Em[!] or Bomb-'em-up[!]), it is Procházka's battle cry and also the name of his merchandise brand.

His nickname, Denisa, is a girl's name in the Czech language equivalent to the English Denise, and Deniska. It originated during a training camp, where Procházka had responded to his trainer's call for another fighter, who was a girl called Denisa.

Since 2017, Procházka has lived in a cottage about 30 minutes outside of his hometown of Brno, near a reservoir. The cottage has electricity but no gas and or water connection and he gets his water out of a well.

Mixed martial arts

 * Ultimate Fighting Championship
 * UFC Light Heavyweight Championship (One time)
 * Fight of the Night (Two times) vs. Dominick Reyes and Glover Teixeira
 * Performance of the Night (Three times) vs. Volkan Oezdemir, Dominick Reyes and Aleksandar Rakić
 * 2021 Half-Year Awards: Best Fight of the 1HY vs. Dominick Reyes
 * 2022 Fight of the Year vs. Glover Teixeira
 * First champion from Czech Republic
 * Rizin Fighting Federation
 * RIZIN Light Heavyweight Championship (Inaugural; former)
 * One successful title defense
 * 2015 RIZIN Heavyweight Grand Prix Runner Up
 * Gladiator Fighting Championship
 * GFC Light Heavyweight Championship (Inaugural)
 * One successful title defense
 * Cageside Press
 * 2022 Fight of the Year vs. Glover Teixeira at UFC 275
 * Combat Press
 * 2022 Fight of the Year vs. Glover Teixeira
 * ESPN
 * 2021 Midyear MMA Awards: Best Finish of the 1HY vs. Dominick Reyes
 * 2022 Fight of the Year vs. Glover Teixeira at UFC 275
 * Fight Club News Awards
 * 2013 Czech Fight of the Year vs. Martin Šolc on December 7
 * MMAjunkie.com
 * 2021 May Knockout of the Month vs. Dominick Reyes
 * 2022 June Fight of the Month vs. Glover Teixeira at UFC 275
 * 2022 Fight of the Year vs. Glover Teixeira
 * MMA Fighting
 * 2022 Fight of the Year vs. Glover Teixeira
 * MMA Mania
 * 2022 Fight of the Year vs. Glover Teixeira
 * Sherdog
 * 2022 Fight of the Year vs. Glover Teixeira at UFC 275
 * World MMA Awards
 * 2022 Fight of the Year vs. Glover Teixeira at UFC 275
 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 * 2022 MMA Match of the Year vs. Glover Teixeira at UFC 275

Muay Thai

 * Czech Muay Thai Association
 * 2011 Czech National Championships champion (−86.18 kg)