{"id":579119,"date":"2026-04-01T19:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T19:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/579119\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T19:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T19:00:09","slug":"is-ufc-secretly-rooting-for-jiri-prochazka-has-champion-aura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/579119\/","title":{"rendered":"Is UFC secretly rooting for Jiri? Prochazka has \u2018champion aura\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka will attempt to recapture the crown when he collides with No. 3-ranked<\/a> title contender Carlos Ulberg atop the UFC 327 fight card<\/a> on Paramount+<\/a>, scheduled for Sat., April 11, 2026 inside Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.<\/p>\n

The promotion may be rooting for Prochazka, who has \u201cchampion aura.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to former UFC lightweight and current fight night analyst Din Thomas. \u201cDinero\u201d argues that Prochazka is more marketable with his bonus-bagging fight style<\/a> and fan-friendly social media presence<\/a>. As for Ulberg, he\u2019s more of the \u201csilent assassin\u201d type who is more reserved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Jiri Prochazka being champion is always going to be good for UFC,\u201d Thomas told MMA Junkie<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s one of those guys where you\u2019re just going to love him no matter what. Not that you\u2019re not going to love Carlos Ulberg, it\u2019s just that he\u2019s quietly made his way into this spot to fighting for this. He\u2019s won a gang of fights in a row and looked great every time doing it. He\u2019s very marketable, good looking guy, represents a part of the world that could use a champion. But there\u2019s just part of it that\u2019s missing something, and I\u2019m not really sure what that is. I think Jiri being champion just feels right. He\u2019s got that aura about him where it\u2019s like, \u2018We kinda like him as champion.\u2019 I just feel that way about Jiri. He\u2019s got that champion aura about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCarlos Ulberg has deserved this spot, but there\u2019s something about the fight where it\u2019s like, \u2018It\u2019s really only happening because Alex left the belt on the table,\u2019\u201d Thomas added. \u201cIt\u2019s still a great fight, there\u2019s just something about it that makes it feel like a No. 1 contender fight. Still a great fight. Jiri is still the man. Carlos Ulberg deserves his shot. It\u2019s not a matchup that was lingering around for a while, either. It\u2019s a great fight, but it\u2019s not like there\u2019s history between the guys. If there was history I think it would sell it a little harder. It just seems like the next logical step for the division because Alex is moving up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka will attempt to recapture the crown when he collides with No.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,1396,1647],"class_list":["post-579119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news","tag-upcoming-ufc-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}