Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold believes he knows who could have the edge in the upcoming light heavyweight battle between Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill.
Both Prochazka and Hill have held UFC gold, but they’re coming off knockout losses to the current champion Alex Pereira. The two will share the Octagon on the UFC 311 card in hopes of holding on in the 205-pound title picture. For Hill, the path back to a title fight could be easier than for Prochazka, who has been defeated twice by “Poatan.”
In fact, the way that Prochazka lost to Pereira in the rematch has Rockhold questioning if he can stick to a game plan.
RELATED: JAMAHAL HILL EXPLAINS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIS AND JIRI PROCHAZKA’S LOSSES TO ALEX PEREIRA: “YOU GOT DOMINATED, AND I GOT CAUGHT”
Luke Rockhold Criticizes Jiri Prochazka’s Performance Against Alex Pereira in Rematch
During an episode of the “JAXXON Podcast,” Luke Rockhold shared his disappointment with how Jiri Prochazka approached his second fight with Alex Pereira back in June 2024.
“I didn’t like the way that Jiri fought his last time out versus Pereira,” Rockhold said. “He just didn’t look like he would follow the game plan. Like, what were you doing? I don’t know. To think you could stand with him and play this karate style, kung fu game. You can’t fight like that, a guy that he’s so dangerous, you can’t fight with your hands down and you got to go for takedowns. You identified his weakness, but you didn’t even try to exploit it.”
Predicting Prochazka vs. Hill
Perhaps Rockhold would have a different stance if Prochazka had been more competitive in his rematch with Pereira, but as it stands now, he’s leaning towards Hill getting the win at UFC 311.
“Jamahal Hill’s more dangerous,” Rockhold said. “He’s got pop, he’s got power, he goes for the kill and Jamahal’s got funky — he’s weirdly athletic sometimes. He’s hard to take down. You’ve seen in the Glover fight, he was able to get up and get his way and funks his way through a lot of things and he ends up finding his shot, the kill shot. But, like I said, this is a rebuilding process for both of them and you don’t know, but I don’t know. I might favor Jamahal in this one.”
UFC 311 will emanate from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, CA on January 18th. In the main event, UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev will put his gold up for grabs against Arman Tsarukyan. The co-headliner will feature Merab Dvalishvili looking to keep Umar Nurmagomedov away from his UFC Bantamweight Championship.
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