LAS VEGAS – Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka was noticeably bothered by Aleksandar Rakic calling him a “fake Samurai.”
Prochazka (29-4-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) faces Rakic (14-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 300 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) featured prelim at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. During Wednesday’s media day, Rakic labeled Prochazka as a “fake Samurai,” which didn’t sit well with him.
“Yeah, I said he’s a fake Samurai because, you know, you cannot become a Samurai after just reading a book,” Rakic told MMA Junkie and other reporters. “What his coach gave it to him and live this spirit, you know. If you’re a Samurai, you need to live this for a long time and not for the last two, three years. So that’s why I said he’s a fake Samurai.”
Prochazka appeared to take slight offense to what Rakic’s words.
“Aleksandar is talking too much,” Prochazka said. “He’s talking too much. He don’t know me, and he will know me in the cage. Who am I, where I am able to go, how to I can go to take a win, he don’t know me personally. If you don’t know somebody personally, how can you speak about him something? I never said about myself I’m a Samurai or whatever.
“Because I’m respecting all the warriors from all the history, and I’m sharing with the people, with all the world, every time, the best ideas and the best thoughts. What I ever had, which helped me to improve myself on the way, to keep myself on the way, and he will like that. He don’t know nothing about me, how I’m living. I can’t say what I sacrificed because I accept the way, and when you accept the way, you will live whatever, do whatever. That’s it.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.
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