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Jiří Procházka will face Carlos Ulberg for the vacant light heavyweight title at UFC 327 in Miami on April 11th, following Alex Pereira’s move to the heavyweight division. However, a potential bout between Procházka and Khamzat Chimaev was reportedly agreed upon before Ulberg emerged as the challenger.
“The interesting thing about this fight is that it wasn’t supposed to happen; another fight had already been arranged and was finalized,” promoter Novotný revealed in an interview, indicating a significant shift in UFC’s plans.
“Hunter (the second-highest person in UFC after White) panicked a bit, or I don’t know if that’s the right way to set it. But when we saw the graphic for Procházka vs. Chimaev, it wasn’t a awful graphic. That fight was already agreed upon. Khamzat is currently quite bulky and too far from the middleweight division, so he agreed to fight Jirka. He would have been the one to decide. However, he said he would wait for Strickland if he defeated Hernandez, which no one really believed. ‘The Wolf’ said Sean was talking nonsense, and Strickland immediately responded, so Chimaev decided to finish Strickland. I’m surprised, but the Procházka vs. Chimaev fight was real, and it’s likely to be the next matchup.”
March 7th, OKTAGON 85:
Severino vs Kakhorov
Eckerlin vs Kohout
Ilbay vs Hamerski
Lemberanskij vs Gunduz
Wolf vs Kalejaiye
Bartl vs Pfeifer
Walid vs Sultani
Frimpong vs Cigánik
Smolková vs Egger
Silva vs Severino
Obodozie vs Horvath
