Jiri Prochazka wants to go down to 185 pounds and take the belt from Dricus du Plessis

South African Dricus du Plessis has a long list of challengers in the 185-pound division – and it looks like he could add a former light heavyweight world champion to the team.

Du Plessis underlined his status as the UFC’s top middleweight contender by defeating former champion Israel Adesanya via fourth-round submission in the headliner of the organization’s recent event in Perth, Australia. Since then, UFC boss Dana White has hinted that Sean Strickland could be next in line, while the winner of the Robert Whittaker-Khamzat Chimaev fight scheduled for late October is also considered high on the list.

But we can add one more name to this list: that of former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka, a fighter who is at a turning point after being defeated in two consecutive light heavyweight title fights by Alex Pereira (himself a former middleweight champion).

“If Adesanya wins, I’ll stay at light heavyweight, but if Du Plessis wins, I’ll follow him.” Prochazka said his attitude before the UFC 305 card, about MMA mania.

“I’ll clean up a bit and get the belt. But I feel comfortable and strong in the light heavyweight division, even if the guys there are a bit heavier. Almost all of them. So I have to say that I have no problem physically and in terms of strength or anything else in knocking them out.”

“But it would certainly be a challenge for me to get the belt in the 185-pound division and then move up. But I’m really going to let it go and see how it plays out.”

Czech fighter Prochazka has been defeated only three times in the last decade: twice by Pereira and once (in 2015) by Muhammed Lawal. Since his UFC debut in the summer of 2020, he has compiled a record of 4-2 and is 30-5-1 in his entire career.