As Carlos Ulberg stepped into the UFC 327 octagon, the buzz of his first title opportunity electrified the atmosphere. But a wave of panic rippled through Ulberg’s corner just moments into the fight, potentially favoring Jiri Prochazka. But what exactly triggered it?

For those unaware, Carlos Ulberg and Jiri Prochazka started their fight quite cautiously. However, just a few seconds later, an awkward landing seemingly injured the right leg of ‘Black Jag’. And thus the bout temporarily shifted in Prochazka’s favor. However, Ulberg stood strong and eventually found an opening to knock the Czech fighter out with a counter left hook. But before that, Ulberg’s coach Eugene Bareman went through a whole lot of emotions.

Carlos Ulberg’s coach reveals his “panic”

“From the jaws of defeat,” said Eugene Bareman to Daniel Cormier on his YouTube channel. “Trust me, our hearts were jumping out of our chests. I was panicking the most, but a lot of our coaches were OK with it because they knew Jiri would kind of come to us then. They were kind of right. That’s why I’ve got brilliant coaching partners, as well.”

 

Carlos Ulberg was evidently limping after the unfortunate leg injury. Despite that, the Kiwi fighter’s corner seemed quite confident to end up on the winning side. And the reason behind that was seemingly Jiri Prochazka‘s way of fighting. Notably, Prochazka has a mix of Muay Thai and karate as his fighting style.

But most importantly, he dons an aggressive role with it. As such, Prochazka constantly moves forward to put pressure on his opponent. While it surely benefited him in some of his fights, it also affected ‘Denisa’ in a few. For instance, take his UFC 295 fight against Alex Pereira as an example.

As he walked down to put Pereira against the fence, the Brazilian caught Prochazka with a counter hook to finish him off. Well, something of that similar sort happened during the UFC 327 fight against Ulberg. However, the Czech fighter seemingly cited his loss to his compassionate nature. But ‘Black Jag’ and his team have openly dismissed that narrative.

Eugene Bareman reacts to Jiri Prochazka’s “mercy” statement

During the UFC 327 octagon interview, Jiri Prochazka noted that he felt “mercy” watching Carlos Ulberg fighting him through adversity. As a result, he may not have given his 100% effort to win. However, ‘Black Jag’ immediately shut down the narrative. To that end, citing the high-stakes nature of their fight, Ulberg called it Prochazka’s “mistake.”

When coach Eugene Bareman was asked about the Czech fighter’s comments, he shared quite a similar sentiment.

“I mean, I give it to him, mate,” said Bareman in an interview with Submission Radio. “Like fighters are allowed to make up whatever they can to get themselves back on the horse. Do it, say it, make whatever excuses you want, develop a story in your head. My fighters do it. All fighters from all teams do it. They make something out of, and it is part of the building blocks to get you to the next stage in your career.

Sometimes it works, and sometimes it works against you. So, for me, I do not pay much attention to it. If you showed mercy, then you made a huge mistake. That is all I am saying. That has nothing to do with us. I would not have expected Carlos to show the same mercy. Not in a world title fight.”

Quite a brutal statement, right? But then again, Ulberg and his coach shared a different perspective. That said, it will be interesting to see what Prochazka’s next step will be in the leading MMA promotion. Although he has called for a rematch, the ultimate decision lies in the hands of UFC. For the new light heavyweight champion, the severity of his injury is yet to be revealed.

On that note, do you want Ulberg to fight Prochazka in an immediate rematch? Let us know in the comments below!

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