Jiri Prochazka believes Alex Pereira seeks "spiritual" help from shamans to win fights: "He doesn't know to fight without that"

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka's approach to the fight game could be perceived as eccentric by some. His recent remarks about Alex Pereira's process of winning fights may further contribute to that impression.

During a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Prochazka claimed that Pereira cannot fight on a purely human level without the "help of spiritual things." He stated:

“I think he believes a lot in help of spiritual things, and that’s something that I think he can’t fight without because I want to keep that in a clear line. Just the sport performance, pure performance, man versus man, but I think he doesn’t know how to fight without that because he used these things every time, so I think right now, I’m looking forward to that."

He added:

“Everybody knows he is working with some Shamanics, with some Shamans from his hometown and he believes in some spiritual help from them. I believe too, but I believe in the best performance, in human performance right here right now, without no magic, and let’s see if Alex will still work like that because it’s working but I believe in a clear way, and I will do that and I want to win by that way."

Check out the entire segment below (2:47:00):

Pereira represents a deep-seated connection to his indigenous roots of the Pataxo tribe from Bahia, Brazil. However, 'Poatan' hasn't spoken in depth about the correlation between the cultural identity and athletic excellence that Prochazka was referring to.

Nevertheless, the Czech standout has the opportunity to settle the score with Pereira when the pair lock horns in the main event of UFC 303 on June 30 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Prochazka succumbed to a second-round TKO loss against the Brazilian when they crossed paths at UFC 295. Meanwhile, with that win, Pereira achieved the distinction of becoming a two-division champion in the shortest time and fewest bouts.

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Jiri Prochazka was surprised Alex Pereira accepted the rematch

Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira have seemingly earned the reputation of being the UFC's go-to fighters to save major pay-per-view showcases.

The pair stepped in on short notice to replace Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler to serve as the marquee attraction of the card. However, Prochazka wasn't entirely convinced whether Pereira would step in on short notice to face him.

Speaking in the aforementioned interview on The MMA Hour, he said (2:38:00):

“I was a little bit surprised by that, I can say yes... I don’t know what was the reason he said yes, if it’s money or something else, but communication with me from the UFC, they gave me some better... I don’t want to be concrete, but we negotiated about better money. So I don’t know how it was with Alex.”