Jiri Prochazka still uncertain when he will be fully healthy to face Jamahal Hill for the light heavyweight title: “August is still early for me”

Jiri Prochazka doesn’t know when he will be able to return.

Prochazka had to vacate his light heavyweight title last year due to a major injury and since then, he has been healing and rehabbing trying to return. After Jamahal Hill became the new champ in January, the hope was to have the fight in the summer and reports came out that it was targeted for UFC 292 in Boston in August. However, Prochazka says that is still too early as he’s not fully healthy yet.

“That’s right. We’re already dealing with it with the UFC, but I can’t say all the information. August is still early for me because, and I keep saying this, I don’t want to just come there healthy in the cage and go fight right away,” Prochazka said in Czech on the FairPlay Thinker podcast (translated by MMAShorties). “I want to come into the cage with the fact that I’ve broken down my style and taken a step and I’m a step ahead in my fighting style, my career, my mindset, everything. When you gain experience and knowledge, you have to adapt them to your style, but also to the people around you.

“Every day we have the opportunity to take steps to be a better version of ourselves. That’s the way. What else does one want to do? On the one hand, the perfection of the present moment must be recognized,” Prochazka said. “On the other hand, the important journey is the search for non-stop improvement and perfection, which is endless, but when you look back, that’s where the satisfaction lies. So I want to go into the match with the best possible version of myself that I can achieve right now. I will do so and obtain the belt in this form. Let Hill push himself… That person should be grateful. He should be grateful for the chance. He could go and win that belt. However, it is up to each of them. I won’t judge it completely. I’ll eat mine and bye.'”

With Jiri Prochazka saying UFC 292 is too early, it’s uncertain when his fight against Jamahal Hill will happen. Perhaps, if Prochazka needs more time off, the UFC will make Hill defend his title for the first time against someone else. But, Hill has been vocal in saying he wants Prochazka next.

Prochazka is a perfect 3-0 in the UFC as he won the title back in June of 2022 with a fifth-round submission win over Glover Teixeira. Prior to that, he knocked out Dominick Reyes and KO’d Volkan Oezdemir in his debut.

Who do you think will win, Jiri Prochazka or Jamahal Hill?