Din Thomas, Chael Sonnen don't buy Jiri Prochazka's 'mercy' excuse after UFC 327
· Yahoo Sports
UFC analysts Chael Sonnen and Din Thomas agree that Carlos Ulberg's incredible UFC 327 title win is being diminished by some of the post-fight narratives, including those from opponent Jiri Prochazka.
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Ulberg (14-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) overcame an early knee injury on Saturday at Kaseya Center in Miami to knock Prochazka out cold in stunning fashion to claim the vacant light heavyweight championship. It was an incredible moment that was quickly engulfed by a conversation about exactly how the fight-ending moment came to be.
UFC color commentator Joe Rogan painted a narrative that Prochazka let Ulberg off the hook when he was hobbling on one leg, and Prochazka echoed that sentiment in the post-fight interview, as well on social media since, stating that he showed "mercy" and then paid the ultimate price.
Sonnen wasn't a fan of any of that.
"I didn't love our broadcast team is yelling he's got a blown-out knee – they don't know that," Sonnen said on his "On The Road with Chael Sonnen" show for Paramount+. "I think they got a little ahead of themselves talking about, 'He won this on one knee.' He was standing on both feet. I thought that was a little weird. Jiri is coming out the back saying, 'I was showing mercy.' Maybe. But it looked to me like you were in a fistfight and you got punched on the chin by a guy that's pretty good at punching people on the chin. I kind of thought all of that commentary was a way of taking away from Carlos. This is Carlos' night and I think we owe him that credit.
"I didn't get this whole, 'I had mercy and this guy's on one leg.' That's not what I saw. That's what the announcers were screaming to everybody. But I saw a cage fight where two guys were trying to hurt one another and Carlos got the jump on Jiri. That's what I saw."
Thomas, who has been in the corner for a number of significant UFC fights, shared a similar sentiment.
"Did you think that Jiri was showing mercy? I didn't see that from Jiri," Thomas said. "Because he has a compromised guy with one leg and he's still kicking him in the legs and he just got careless as he ran forward and got hit with that left hook."
With the defeat, Prochazka has now lost three undisputed title shots in a row – two to Alex Pereira and one to Ulberg. He's 1-3 overall in 205-pound title bouts, with the lone win being a come-from-behind submission finish of Glover Teixeira at UFC 275 in June 2022.
There's a track record now building on Prochazka's resume, and for Thomas, that creates questions about whether Prochazka is truly destined to reach the very top again.
"I want to say this with as much respect as I possibly can, and this is going to sound really bad," Thomas said. "But it almost to me is he's kind of a choke artist in the big moments."
Sonnen didn't disagree with that assessment from his co-host Thomas, and said there should be no downplaying what Ulberg did by his own volition.
"Yeah, I know. … I think the big moments and being world champion, there's a lot on that," Sonnen said. "There was a lot of pressure on Jiri tonight, not only because he had been there and done that, but he was the veteran fighter. He, of the two, is more unlikely to return to a title fight if he doesn't leave with the belt. That did add a little bit of pressure. And when you talk about choking, it really does come down to who cares more.
"I did not see Jiri taking mercy. I did not see a fight that Jiri thought he won and was showing a kindness. I thought Jiri was doing his job, which was trying to hurt and finish his opponent. His opponent did the same thing back to him and did better. It was a fair contest."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 327: Analyst don't buy excuses from 'choke-artist' Jiri Prochazka