By Cassandra Cousineau of LVSportsBiz.com
UFC light heavyweight Jiri Procházka showed up for fight week sporting a new hairstyle that raised a few eyebrows this week. The native of the Czech Republic was one of 22 fighters representing nearly 10 countries and four continents at this weekend’s UFC Vegas 25 headlined by Procházka and former championship contender Dominick Reyes.
On any given night, UFC has the most global footprint of any sports league in the world. Saturday’s 11-fight card held inside of Apex, the promotion’s events headquarters next to the Las Vegas-based promotion’s base off the 215 Beltway in the southwest valley, was no different.
“That’s my antenna,” he told the media in attendance about his unique hairstyle. “I was motivated by the Muay Thai warriors.” “I like this stuff. I say that, it’s war hair. It’s how I am taking this moment, this fight, importantly, seriously. This is the hair just for this moment.”
Nicknamed “Jirka,” the 28-year-old signed a UFC deal in 2020 after a five-year stint at the Japanese MMA organization Rizin, and has quickly established himself as a striker with international box office appeal; just what UFC banks on when building future champions.
The night also produced several other wins captured by international fighters. Former Glory kickboxer, Giga Chikadze, notched his biggest career victory halting Cub Swanson’s two-fight win streak. The 32-year-old was one of two fighters from the Republic of Georgia.
Merab Dvalishvili took UFC veteran Cody Stamann three rounds to earn a decision victory. The No. 12 ranked bantamweight walked into the Octagon draped in the Georgian and US flag sewn together as one. He also wore a papakha head covering similar to his Dagestan neighbor, and former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Training out of Long Island, NY, Dvalishvili spoke no English when he arrived in the US eight years ago.
“I love my tradition, we have a big history. My country is a small, but beautiful country. They love tourists, they love visitors, no criminals in my country; you can leave doors open and nobody will touch. I’m proud always of my country,” the soft spoken 30-year-old clearly articulated to media in his post fight press conference.
Without counting the controversial bantamweight belt bestowed by default to Aljamain Sterling, there are currently no American-born UFC champions, male or female. Perhaps the most successful of the global stars is future Hall of Famer, and two division champion, Brazil’s Amanda Nunes.
In the last two years, UFC has crowned THREE African champions. The Nigerian Nightmare Kamaru Usman became the promotion’s first African-born champion in March 2019 when he dethroned former dominant welterweight king Tyron Woodley.
Just a few months later, Nigerian-born Kiwi Israel Adesanya would follow in his countryman’s footsteps by claiming the middleweight title. Cameroon’s Francis Ngannou became the continent’s third UFC champion on March 27 with a vicious second-round KO victory to defeat heavyweight Stipe Miocic at UFC 260. Here they are:
Since its inception, the United States has created the most UFC champions. Representing just about half of the county in 24 states, California has produced the most with 15 according to Cageside Press.
The imposing 6’3’, Czechoslovakia, Procházka, closed the show with a spinning elbow that laid out Reyes at the 4:29 mark of the second round. For that performance, he’ll return from his first ever fight in the United States with two-thirds of the $50,000 bonuses handed out for Saturday’s event.
“It’s a great feeling,” Prochazka said. “Dominick was a great opponent and he’s a nice, nice guy, like a person. After the fight and before the fight I felt from him, just nothing. No hate – just pure fighting, that’s what it’s about. That’s what I like.”
Here’s the breakdown of countries represented in UFC Vegas 25:
Brazil Felipe Dias Colares, Poliana Botelho, Luana Carolina, Luana Pinheiro
Canada KB Bhullar, Randa Markos
Czech Republic Jiri Prochazka
Georgia Merab Dvalishvili, Giga Chikadze
Greece Andreas Michailidis
Moldova Ion Cutelaba
Poland Krzysztof Jotko
Thailand Loma Lookboonmee
United States Luke Sanders, Sam Hughes, Kai Kamaka III, TJ Brown, Cody Stamann, Sean Strickland, Dustin Jacoby, Cub Swanson, Dominick Reyes