Jiri Prochazka’s coach suggests former champion should move down to middleweight amid thoughts of retirement

After the loss, the former champion informed his fans via social media and even admitted that he needs to develop as a fighter or stop fighting altogether.

Jiri Prochazka’s coach suggests he move up to middleweight

Despite this, Prochazka’s coach, Martin Karaivanov, has suggested that instead of stopping the fight, the BJP should consider dropping down a weight class to middleweight.

Prochazka has never competed professionally at 185 pounds, but he has tried to move down to middleweight before. Now might be the perfect time to experiment.

“Everything was fine. I don’t know what happened. Jiri himself said afterwards that he couldn’t come 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 short notice if we weren’t sure he was ready,” the coach continued.

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

“We will watch the recording, summarize what happened and draw conclusions for the next training sessions. We are certainly not finished yet, we will continue. If I can speak for myself, I see it now as a restart and a positive step towards something that is going to happen.

“He is still old enough to fit relatively well in middleweight. So of course we will talk about it. It will not be my decision alone, but the team’s decision. Middleweight would give meaning as a new restart,” Karaivanov explained.

Prochazka Returns to Unconventional Training After UFC 303 Loss

The 31-year-old has announced he will be taking a break from competition for a while after taking a fight on short notice at UFC 303.

That said, it appears the former champion has started doing some light, unconventional training again, as he shared a video on social media of himself hitting a plank of wood.

“I will rest, but now it’s time to rise. Start over. Smarter, faster, more precise. With a spirit of emptiness,” Prochazka captioned his post.

If ‘The Last Samurai’ decides to move back down to middleweight, he will likely find himself in a title elimination fight straight away, given his performance at light heavyweight.

Prochazka will likely be keeping a close eye on the outcome of the title fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya, which will finally meet at UFC 305 on August 17.

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