LAS VEGAS -- Far be it from me to question Jiri Prochazka, one of the best and most entertaining fighters in the UFC. He's clearly forgotten 10 times more about fighting than I'll ever know, but still.
At media day for UFC 303 at Apex on Wednesday, Prochazka was discussing his rematch with Alex Pereira for the light heavyweight title in Saturday's main event at T-Mobile Arena. Pereira knocked out Prochazka, himself a former champion, in the second round of their title bout in the main event of UFC 295 on Nov. 11 in New York's Madison Square Garden.
Prochazka said Wednesday that Pereira is using spiritual forces to aid him in his fights. He said it was the use of shamans that has helped Pereira become one of the biggest stars in the sport.
Pereira is one of the world's great kick boxers and his transition to MMA has been almost seamless. In just eight fights in the UFC, Pereira has won both the middleweight title and the light heavyweight title, defeated current or former champions Israel Adesanya, Prochazka, Jamahal Hill, Sean Strickland and Jan Blachowicz and become one of the game's elite attractions.
Silly me, I thought it was Pereira's athletic ability, his hard work and, to a large degree, his pulverizing punching power which has landed him atop this crazy sport. He's ranked No. 4 pound-for-pound in the UFC's current ratings.
That's not the case, Prochazka said Wednesday at media day.
"Everybody knows that, and he's doing these rituals before the fight," Prochazka said. "Everybody can feel that, what's around him, what's going on. I think Alex can't fight without that."
OK, I guess I stand corrected.
Now, I've always thought I had a pretty good vocabulary and I used to read the thesaurus for fun. In sixth and seventh grade, I won the spelling bee, which I always thought in a way made me a champion of words. I have to admit, though, that when Prochazka spoke, I had to reach for the dictionary.
I hate to admit that I didn't know what shamans meant. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a shaman is 1, a priest or priestess who uses magic for the purpose of curing the sick, divining the hidden, and controlling events or 2, one who resembles a shaman.
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So, again, maybe this was just me, but I didn't feel that energy. As he left the Octagon following his win over Prochazka at UFC 295, our eyes met while Pereira was heading to the dressing room. He smiled and nodded his head in acknowledgement. There was no force field or aura or anything unusual emanating from him.
Now, the fight was over and maybe the spirits had gone for the night, but still. I felt nothing.
For his part, Pereira shrugged off Prochazka's suggestion that his knockouts and his wins aren't the product solely of his skills and hard work, that there are other forces at play.
"Well, everybody has their own spirits," Pereira said. "We're not just made of flesh and bone. If he did not find his or he doesn't believe, that's not my fault."
This fight was made on short notice to replace the Conor McGregor-Michael Chandler bout that was supposed to sit atop this card. McGregor pulled out with an injury, later revealed to be a broken pinky toe.
Pereira and Prochazka are two of the most entertaining strikers in all of combat sports, so pairing them should make for a great event. And good for Prochazka is the fact that since it was basically made just two weeks ago, perhaps Pereira hasn't been able to summon the spirits to aid him.
Just in case, though, Prochazka used his media appearance to plead with Pereira not to use shamans on Saturday.
"This is my challenge to him: If we can fight in a clear way in this case," Prochazka said. " ... Let's let the higher power be there in the cage to see who's the best in the world in the performance. In the pure performance."
So much of fighting is mental. It's a mental game far more than it is a physical one, and fighters often clutch at things to help them get through the roughest of sports. That may have been Prochazka's rationale for mentioning the shamans.
Pereira is a funny and easy-going guy, but he's got his game face on so he wasn't biting on any of Prochazka's words. He did his level best not to provide any bulletin board material for Prochazka to use.
He wouldn't give an opinion when asked if Prochazka's thoughts were unusual. Prior to UFC 300 in April, Prochazka got into it with opponent Alexander Rakic when Rakic said he wasn't a true samurai.
"He is a normal guy," Pereira said. "Everybody has their ways and their expressions, but to me, he's just a normal guy."