It’s fair to say that it’s been a topsy-turvy twelve months in the UFC light heavyweight division. Jiri Prochazka defeated UFC veteran Glover Teixeira in June 2022 to become the first UFC champion to hail from the Czech Republic. A rematch with Teixeira was scheduled to take place at UFC 282 on December 10, but unfortunately, Prochazka suffered a severe injury to his right shoulder, which scuppered the bout and led to a prolonged spell on the sidelines.
The original injury to Prochazka happened due to landing on his shoulder during training. Somebody in his gym then took it upon themselves to ‘pop’ his shoulder back into his socket, making the injury worse. UFC president Dana White said that the doctor who treated Prochazka said it up there with the worst injuries he has seen to the shoulder:
”We had our doctor look and him. He literally said that in the years of [working at] the UFC, this is the worst shoulder injury we’ve seen. Him [Prochazka] being the savage that he is, still wanted to fight” Dana White said on Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett’s podcast.
Rather nobly, Prochazka vacated the light heavyweight title as he knew he couldn’t defend his belt for a considerable amount of time. Jamahal Hill then stepped in as a replacement opponent against Glover Teixeira at UFC 283 in January this year and won the vacant light heavyweight title impressively, securing a Fight of the Night award following a unanimous decision victory.
Then yesterday, Hill announced on his YouTube channel that he had suffered a serious injury, rupturing his Achilles tendon. As he will be out long term (for the rest of 2023 at least), he has decided to relinquish the light heavyweight title, much like Prochazka did. Hill didn’t confirm how the injury happened but it has been reported by MMA Fighting that Hill suffered the injury during a recent basketball game with other fighters on the UFC roster. His decision to give up the title gained respect from the Prochazka, and the pair traded some nice messages on Twitter after Hill’s announcement.
The UFC light heavyweight title hasn’t been defended since June 11, 2022, and we are again in a position where we don’t have a champion. Jan Blachowicz is fighting Alex Pereira at UFC 291 in two weeks, so the fight could either be for the vacant title or an interim title should the UFC decide to upgrade the contest. The latter would be more likely, given that Jiri Prochazka is ranked number one in the division. Another option is that the winner of Blachowicz and Pereira fights Prochazka for the vacant light heavyweight title later this year, as it’s expected that Hill will be out for a long time. The Prochazka has recovered from his injury.
So once again, the division is in limbo, but the good news is that there is a significant fight in the light heavyweight division just around the corner, and from there, we will get more clarity. Once a new champion is finally crowned, Hill should be firmly on the road to recovery and will no doubt be in line for a title shot upon his return.
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