"Something's wrong, like, he's so careful" - Jiri Prochazka reveals he sensed something was off with Magomed Ankalaev during UFC 320 clash

Jiri Prochazka recently gave his thoughts on Magomed Ankalaev's performance at UFC 320, claiming that the Dagestani fighter was not at his best that evening.

Ankalaev made his first light heavyweight title defense in a rematch against Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 320 earlier this month at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the fight, Pereira immediately barged in, pushing Ankalaev against the cage before wrapping it up with vicious elbows from the top position at the 1:20 mark of the opening round.

In a recent interview with Mike Heck of MMA Fighting, Prochazka shared his opinion on Ankalaev:

''I didn't see him training much in UFC PI but I saw him before the fight and in a fight and when I saw him like he was [holding] himself back, back, back, back, little step back, little step back. Then I thought, man, he's not not right. Something's wrong, like, he's so careful. Not like last time, he's going forward, up and down, changing levels, self-confident. He was totally different person, yeah.''

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Check out Jiri Prochazka's comments below (16:04):

Following Ankalaev's loss, his manager Ali Abdelaziz claimed that the Russian should have never fought, hinting at a potential injury sustained by the 33-year-old prior to his 205-pound title rematch with Pereira. Following this, several reports suggested that Ankalaev had suffered a rib injury prior to the fight.

As for Prochazka, he took on Khalil Rountree Jr. on the main card of UFC 320 and was reportedly behind on the scorecards. However, he bounced back in the third and final round, knocking out Rountree Jr. The former champion is now aiming to challenge Pereira in a trilogy matchup.

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Jiri Prochazka praises Khalil Rountree Jr.

In the aforementioned interview with MMA Fighting, Jiri Prochazka expressed his admiration for Khalil Rountree Jr., who proved to be a tough matchup for the Czech fighter:

''The first thing I want to say to Khalil, thank you. Thank you for the amazing fight. Thank you, because every time, when you share the cage with some opponents, he’s also your teacher because he’s teaching you how to overcome him, how to overcome his attacks, how to learn, how to be better, because that’s what we are doing...I’m sharpening him, he’s sharpening me...I’m thankful to him, to share the cage with him, and especially with him, because there was not too many opponents as dynamic and tough like him.'' [11:43 of the interview]

Edited by Swagat Kumar Jena