Jiri Prochazka
Jiri Prochazka UFC

KEY POINTS

  • Jiri Prochazka has vacated the UFC title after suffering an injury
  • Jan Blachowicz will meet Magomed Ankalaev for vacant title at UFC 282
  • Glover Teixeira declined the bout offer due to lack of preparation time

After suffering a significant shoulder injury that will keep him shelved for the foreseeable future, Jiri Prochazka has vacated the UFC light heavyweight championship.

Prochazka was scheduled to defend the title in a rematch against Glover Teixeira in the main event of UFC 282 on December 10th.

The news was first broken by Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole on Wednesday, November 23.

The injury, as per UFC president Dana White, was so severe that Prochazka would need serious surgery and extensive rehabilitation.

"This is the worst shoulder injury the doctors have seen in UFC history," White said in an interview with Yahoo! Sports. "It's really f***ing bad. His shoulder is very, very bad. He's going to have serious surgery that will require extensive rehab."

Prochazka released a statement regarding the situation on his social media accounts.

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The 30-year-old native of the Czech Republic captured the 205-pound strap by defeating Teixeira at UFC 275 in Singapore back in June. It was just Prochazka's third fight under the UFC banner.

Prochazka is currently on a 13-fight winning streak, 12 of which have come by stoppage.

As a result of the injury to Prochazka, the UFC's December pay-per-view will now feature former titleholder Jan Blachowicz taking on the surging Magomed Ankalaev for the vacant title.

As for Teixeira, White explained that he was offered the fight but declined, so they "had to move on."

Veteran mixed martial arts (MMA) journalist Ariel Helwani provided a bit of clarification on the issue with Teixeira, saying that he felt that he had too short a time to prepare for a new opponent in Akalaev.

Blachowicz, 39, is the No. 2-ranked light heavyweight contender in the UFC and is coming off a win over Aleksandar Rakic this past May.

Blachowicz won the vacant UFC light heavyweight title back in 2020 and defended it once against Israel Adesanya.

Ankalaev, 30, is on a nine-fight winning streak, which includes victories over Anthony Smith, Thiago Santos, Volkan Oezdemir, Nikita Krylov and Ion Cutelaba.

The UFC 282 fight card also features Paddy Pimblett vs. Jared Gordon, Robbie Lawler vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio, and Bryce Mitchell vs. Ilia Topuria.