scored one of the UFC\u2019s most unlikely title victories on Sunday <\/a>when, despite almost certainly rupturing his ACL in the first round, and stumbling several times, he still managed to KO Prochazka with a brutal check left hook.<\/p>\nDuring a post fight interview with UFC commentator Joe Rogan however, Prochazka spoke of having let the win slip from his grasp, adding that the loss came from his showing \u201cmercy\u201d to a clearly injured rival. <\/p>\n
However, speaking on Monday\u2019s edition of The Ariel Helwani Show, Ulberg left nobody in any doubt as to what he thought of those claims.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s bulls***, total bulls***,\u201d the Aucklander said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s fear.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat wasn\u2019t any kind of mercy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows. He\u2019s a fighter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the difference between a champion and someone who\u2019s just playing for the crowd.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no mercy in there. He was full of fear, hesitation, and that\u2019s what got him clipped.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a pretender.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he knows I know he\u2019s a pretender.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the very first time we faced off, he knew that this was going to be a fight \u2014 this is a real one right in front of me. He could feel it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he knew that I knew he\u2019s a pretender.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carlos Ulberg finishes Jiri Prochazka in their title bout.Source: AFP<\/p>\n
Soon after, Ulberg continued of the mercy claim: \u201cThat was his excuse so he can hopefully get a rematch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no way he gets that rematch. I don\u2019t see him getting past Ankalaev. He gets his ass beat by Ankalaev.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ulberg wasn\u2019t long into Sunday\u2019s title fight when his right knee appeared to become severely compromised during an exchange.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he had that moment where my leg was compromised, he thought, \u2018Ah, this could be my opportunity\u2019,\u201d Ulberg continued of his opponent.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut with the perseverance that I had and pushed through that and was able to adapt with, I wasn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was that very moment where we locked each other\u2019s eyes, and he knew, \u2018Damn, this is going to be a fight. He\u2019s not going anywhere\u2019.<\/p>\n
Heavyweights go to war in INSANE clash | 01:33<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019ve still got my hands. That\u2019s the danger that I have. One shot can kill \u2018em.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked the extent of his injury, the Kiwi added: \u201cWe don\u2019t know for sure [if it\u2019s a torn ACL]. We\u2019re just waiting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll get the scans done when I arrive in Vegas, and we\u2019ll know everything when that\u2019s all done.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have never [injured] the knee at all, so I have no idea how to react to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just swollen at the moment. It\u2019s hard to get up, so there\u2019s something up in there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely takes me a while now to get anywhere, so I\u2019m definitely walking like an old fella.\u201d<\/p>\n
And as for his reflections of the fight?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe knee felt like it was kind of going in and out of the socket,\u201d the new champ explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pain there, I couldn\u2019t bear any weight on that leg.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnytime I pushed off that right foot or step, any kind of weight on that leg, it would give out.<\/p>\n
Carlos Ulberg celebrates after his victory via knockout over Jiri Prochazka.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s basically it. The pain that I had to go through, too, was unbearable.<\/p>\n
\u201c[But] I know my left hook \u2014 it can reach, and I\u2019ve been practicing that shot specifically for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that eventually he would walk into it. What I wanted him to do was give him a fake sense of comfort, and then he would come in, and I\u2019d land that shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking with Fox Sports Australia on Monday, Ulberg explained how, despite having fought, and won, on what was likely a busted ACL, he still hadn\u2019t been to hospital to get the injury examined.<\/p>\n
But what he had done?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve lost the belt, bro,\u201d he grinned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know exactly where it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially after winning, the plan was to not have a drink. But you know how these things go, right?<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst, someone gives you a champagne to celebrate. Then one thing leads to another and you\u2019re doing shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s \u2018OK, I\u2019ll have another, and another, and another \u2026\u2019<\/p>\n
Costa KO’S contender with BIG head kick | 00:30<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a big group of boys over here in Miami and, when the fight was done, we all went out to the afterparty at a nightclub.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen after that, it was back to one of the boys\u2019 apartments and we all hung out there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to be carrying the belt around so I think it\u2019s still there at the apartment somewhere. One of the boys probably has it in bed with him \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked the extent of his injuries, the new UFC light heavyweight king laughed: \u201cI haven\u2019t actually been to the hospital yet\u201d.<\/p>\n
You haven\u2019t?<\/p>\n
\u201cNah, first things first \u2013 go to the afterparty,\u201d he grinned. \u201cWe went out, hung out with all the boys. Got together \u2026 so my knee isn\u2019t really wanting to forgive me right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all been a crazy, crazy whirlwind and I\u2019m just going with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy knee is really swollen so I\u2019ll stay in the US for scans and then, if I need to go under the knife, I will.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ll fly to Las Vegas in the next few days and see the doctors there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I can do physio at the UFC Performance Institute and get looked after by the guys there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet the knee sorted in Las Vegas and hang around for a few weeks \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlos Ulberg has slammed Jiri Prochazka\u2019s claims that only his \u201cmercy\u201d enabled the New Zealander to become UFC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[12587,2652,197418,197417,197425,195914,197428,2147,197429,197422,197432,195925,19841,197430,197427,13891,197424,197426,197420,41944,13893,111,139,139680,64,13902,69,2659,197421,197423,197415,213,197431,197433,197419,13883,197416],"class_list":{"0":"post-379186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","10":"tag-azamat-murzakanov","11":"tag-branded-fan-favourite","12":"tag-brutal-knee-injury","13":"tag-carlos-ulberg","14":"tag-curtis-blaydes","15":"tag-florida","16":"tag-heavyweight-champion","17":"tag-heavyweight-title-bout","18":"tag-heavyweight-title-fight","19":"tag-jiri-prochazka","20":"tag-joe-rogan","21":"tag-josh-hokit","22":"tag-knockout-win","23":"tag-las-vegas","24":"tag-light-heavyweight-title","25":"tag-martial-arts-event","26":"tag-mercy-claim","27":"tag-miami","28":"tag-nevada","29":"tag-new-zealand","30":"tag-newzealand","31":"tag-nick-walshaw","32":"tag-north-america","33":"tag-northern-america","34":"tag-nz","35":"tag-oceania","36":"tag-paulo-costa","37":"tag-post-fight-claims","38":"tag-samurai-code","39":"tag-sports","40":"tag-title-bout","41":"tag-ufc-performance-institute","42":"tag-undefeated-russian-contender","43":"tag-united-states-of-america","44":"tag-win-slip"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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