Jiri Prochazka doubles down on claim of Alex Pereira winning fights through shamanic magic: "Everybody can feel that"
Former UFC light-heavyweight world champion Jiri Prochazka recently made some bizarre claims regarding his upcoming opponent at UFC 303 this weekend, UFC light-heavyweight kingpin Alex Pereira. Prochazka, who professes to be living by the samurai code, claimed that 'Poatan' uses "shamanic magic" from his indigenous Paxato tribe in Brazil to help him in his fights.
When asked during his pre-fight media scrum to elaborate more on this claim, Prochazka said:
"Yes, everybody knows that. He [Pereira] is doing these rituals before the fight. Everybody can feel that. What's around him and what's going on. And I think that Alex can't fight without that. So that's something [that] he uses normally in fighting. Let's see. Right now this is my challenge to him, if we can fight in a clear way in this case. To be without [other] things, some...whatever. Let the higher power be there in the cage and see who's the best in the world. In the pure performance. That's all."
While fighters and warriors of olden times use rituals and ceremonial prayers before going to battle as a source of power and strength, it's safe to say that most of it is for psychological and emotional support. Pereira doing his shamanic rituals before a fight is no different from a Templar knight praying to Saint George before going to war.
Unless we see fireballs coming out of Pereira's fists after doing a shamanic prayer, we'd say it's mostly his talent, skills, and hard work that made him such a frightening fighter inside the cage.
Here's the full callout by Jiri Prochazka as posted by Ariel Helwani on X:
Alex Pereira responds to Jiri Prochazka's claims of him using shamanic magic to win fights
To make things even more bizarre and mysterious, Alex Pereira responded to Jiri Prochazka's weird claims by speaking like someone who uses shamanic magic. He neither denies the existence of this magical spirit nor the fact that it helps him win fights. We might be looking at a new age of PEDs.
Pereira said in his UFC 303 pre-fight media scrum (via The Mac Life on YouTube):
“Everybody has their own spirits. We’re not only made of flesh and bone. I have found mine. If he has not found his, or he does not believe, it’s not my fault.”
Watch Alex Pereira's media day here, as posted by The Mac Life on YouTube: