Prochazka will be an easier opponent than Blachowicz? Pereira explains why he thinks so

Alex Pereira narrowly defeated Jan Blachowicz on points in his last fight and most likely his next fight will be a title fight. His opponent should be Jiri Prochazka. The Brazilian compared the Czech samurai to the Polish veteran. Who, in his words, is the tougher opponent for him?

It’s not official yet, but it’s probably just a matter of time. Jiri Prochazka will return to action after injury in the title fight and his opponent will be the dangerous puncher Alex Pereira.

The Brazilian fighter, who already held the UFC welterweight title, defeated Jan Blachowicz, a Polish veteran looking to become welterweight king once again, in his debut in the UFC’s 93kg division.

It certainly wasn’t an easy fight for Pereira. In addition to his stand-up qualities, Blachowicz has great wrestling and is a complex fighter who had several weapons to use against the Brazilian star. In the end, though, he lost a close battle on points.

Now Pereira has spoken out about the fight with Prochazka, and oddly enough, it was the Polish veteran that he compared him to. He even surprisingly suggested that the Czech samurai might be an easier opponent for him.

The Brazilian has Prochazka staged from the time when Glover Teixeira, Pereira’s friend and trainer, was preparing for the fight with him. “Even back then I saw a few things there that made me know that the fight with Jiri would definitely be a tough one,” MMA Junkie quotes him as saying.

“A lot of people might disagree with me, but I think the Blachowicz fight was harder for me than the Prochazka fight will be. Because Jan was a threat with grappling and overall ground fighting. I couldn’t be as relaxed in the standup, there was always the risk of a takedown,” Pereira is clear.

“Walk will want to be in the standup with me. I don’t expect him to come at me with grappling and takedowns. Plus, he doesn’t defend much and gets exposed a lot. It‘s going to be a dangerous fight, but I believe stylistically it will suit me much better than the fight with Jan,” added the former middleweight champion.

Pereira noted, among other things, that Prochazka has definitely moved on since the Teixeira fight, so he doesn’t rule out that he could improve in certain aspects of the fight. However, we’ll have to wait until the fight to find out how wrong or right he is.

Source: MMA Junkie, BJPenn.com, Tapology, UFC