Jiri Prochazki’s coach suggests former champ moves up to middleweight as he considers retirement

Following his loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 303, former light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka said he either needs to improve or stop fighting, but his coach has other ideas.

Jiri Prochazka is going back to the drawing board after suffering a devastating knockout loss to UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira at UFC 303 on June 29.

Following the defeat, the former champion took to social media to update his fans and admitted that he either needed to grow as a fighter or stop fighting altogether.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Jiri Prochazka’s coach suggests he move to lower middleweight

Despite this, Prochazka’s trainer, Martin Karaivanov, suggested that instead of giving up the fights, “BJP” should consider moving down to a lower weight class, to middleweight.

Prochazka has never fought professionally at 185 pounds, but he has previously hinted at a move down to middleweight, and now is probably the perfect time to experiment.

“Everything was fine. I don’t know what happened. Jiri himself said later that he couldn’t get into the match,” Karaivanov told tncz.

“This time everything was great before the match. Everything was in sync, Jiri was really ready. We wouldn’t have done it (on such short notice) if we weren’t sure he was ready,” the coach continued.

Still, Prochazka admitted that during the fight, he couldn’t get into it and didn’t feel like he was in it. Now it’s up to him and his team to figure out what the next best step is to get back to where he once was, which would be dropping to 185 pounds if it was his coach’s decision.

“We will look at the video, sum up what happened and draw conclusions for the next training sessions. We are definitely not done, we are continuing. If I can speak for myself, I see it now as a new start and a positive step towards something that will happen.

“He’s still old enough to fit relatively well into the middleweight division. So of course we’ll talk about it. It won’t be just my decision, but the team’s decision. The middleweight division would make sense for a new restart,” Karaivanov explained.

Prochazka returns to unconventional training after UFC 303 loss

The 31-year-old revealed that following his UFC 303 fight on short notice, he intends to take a break from competition.

Despite this, the former champion has apparently returned to some lighter, unconventional training, as he shared a video of himself punching a wooden board on social media.

“I’ll rest, but now it’s time to rise. Start over. Smarter, faster, more precise. With the spirit of emptiness,” Prochazka wrote in his post.

If “The Last Samurai” decides to move up to middleweight, he will likely be thrown into an elimination fight right away given his track record at light heavyweight.

Prochazka will likely be keeping a close eye on the climax of the title fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya, with the two set to finally face off at UFC 305 on Aug. 17.