Alex
Pereira cleared the air with Jiri
Prochazka regarding the alleged use of witchcraft after their
UFC
303 title fight.
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Pereira put his light heavyweight title on the line against
Prochazka on 11 days’ notice at UFC 303 after Conor
McGregor pulled out of his scheduled main event against
Michael
Chandler due to a toe injury. Leading up to the bout, Prochazka
accused Pereira of using shamanic rituals and spiritual help to win
fights.
“Poatan,” who sports his indigenous tribal war paint during face
offs, didn’t clearly deny the allegations stating, “Everybody has
their own spirits.” However, the Brazilian, who represents the Pataxó tribe, promised to not
use any magic during his title fight against Prochazka. Pereira
almost shut the lights on Prochazka at the end of the first round
before sleeping him with a head kick and follow-up punches at the
very beginning of Round 2.
Pereira’s longtime coach Plinio Cruz
insists that despite the warpaint and tribal dance, “Poatan” is a
man of God and has never used witchcraft in his life. Cruz believes
Prochazka let the whole spiritual narrative get to his head, which
played out in their favor in the fight.
“I think it got a little bit on his [Prochazka’s] head,” Cruz said
on “The MMA Hour” “Alex have his indigenous
background, his parents, he likes to honor and I respect him a lot
that he honors the culture of his people. And I help him do that,
I’m a big supporter. But Alex is a man of God, whatever you wanna
call God, Allah, Yahweh, Jehovah… the sun is just one and Alex is a
man of God. I think Jiri somehow let it get in his own head, this
whole indigenous stuff, this witchcrafting, whatever. But that just
played more on our side.”
Cruz also revealed that Pereira cleared up the same with Prochazka
when the teams came across each other at the airport.
“We like him, we like his team, he’s a gentleman,” Cruz said. “He’s
a true warrior, he lives by the samurai code. Got a little funny on
his head about the spiritual side. And Alex, he’s not the kind of
guy that sends messages, he tells whatever he feels. So, we came to
him [Prochazka] and he [Pereira] say, ‘Hey look, much respect for
you. I wish you the best.’ Like real real genuine stuff, but he
says, ‘Hey look, just so you know, I never touch the witchcraft in
my life. Regardless indigenous family, regardless whatever, I’m a
man of God same way as you are, so do not get it twisted.”