By Based mostly in Rochester, England, Simon Head is a veteran sports activities editor who has been masking sport for nationwide and worldwide shops since 2000, and is among the longest-tenured MMA journalists within the UK.
Since 2009, Simon has lined MMA for a number of main shops internationally, together with BBC Sport, BBC Three, MMA Junkie/USA At present, BT Sport, Day by day Mirror, The Solar and The Nationwide UAE, in addition to offering official content material to a number of of the world’s prime MMA organizations, together with UFC, ONE Championship, Cage Warriors and the Worldwide Blended Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF).
Simon has additionally run the digital sports activities desks of two UK nationwide newspapers, helped launch a serious UK sports activities broadcaster, and coordinated protection of the London 2012 Olympic Video games, FIFA World Cups, UEFA European Championships, FA Cup Finals, System 1 and MotoGP.
Simon Head
Contributing Sports activities Author
Former UFC mild heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka could also be some of the intense athletes on the UFC roster, however he proved he nonetheless has a coronary heart of gold.
Czech star Prochazka is all set to compete at UFC 311 in Inglewood, California on Saturday night time, the place he’ll tackle fellow former world champion Jamahal Hill on the pay-per-view portion of the combat card.
It is a large combat for Prochazka, however forward of combat night time, he arrived on the pre-fight press convention wanting noticeably completely different.
Extra information: UFC 311: Jamahal Hill Is Ignoring The Online Critics Ahead of Crucial Clash
Yong Teck Lim/Getty Photographs
Prochazka often sports activities a plaited top-knot coiffure on his mostly-shaved head, much like the well-known Tong Po character within the iconic martial arts film “Kickboxer”.
However he arrived on stage at Intuit Dome with a totally shaved head, resulting in a query about why he’d chosen to alter up his model.
“The hair was impressed by Ashly, a woman (I met),” he defined.
“She is preventing with most cancers.”
Ashly McGarity was identified with cervical most cancers final September and shaved her head to emulate Prochazka’s well-known model earlier than present process chemotherapy and dropping her hair.
Talking to reporters throughout media day earlier this week, Prochazka defined, “We provided her to see the fights reside.”
And on the press convention, he confirmed that McGarity is making the journey, with Prochazka deciding to shave his head in assist of his fan, and the opposite members of the oncology ward the place she’s receiving therapy.
“That is me displaying solidarity, as a result of it is about sending good power,” he defined.
“Yesterday, I reached a million followers on Instagram. So, I’ll give a million (Czech crowns) from my basis to the sufferers.”
UFC CEO and president Dana White made certain the group on the press convention absolutely understood Prochazka’s story and, after clarifying how a lot Prochazka was donating, he responded, “You are gonna donate $50,000? I will match the $50,000. $100,000.”
Prochazka is seeking to win his means again in the direction of the highest of the UFC’s mild heavyweight division in a bid to win again the championship he by no means misplaced contained in the cage.
Extra information: UFC Fighter Victoria Dudakova Apologizes For Slapping Husband After Loss
Prochazka dethroned champion Glover Teixeira through rear-naked choke submission with simply 28 seconds left of their title combat at UFC 275 in June 2022, however a shoulder damage pressured him out of motion for 17 months as he relinquished the title to permit the division to maneuver on.
He challenged for the belt once more on his return, however was stopped by Brazil’s Alex Pereira at UFC 295. A second shot at Pereira at UFC 303 final June led to one other TKO defeat as he fell agonizingly wanting the gold as soon as once more.
Now he faces Hill on Saturday night time as he makes an attempt to place himself again within the body for an additional shot at his outdated title.
For extra on the UFC, head to Newsweek Sports.
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Concerning the author
Based mostly in Rochester, England, Simon Head is a veteran sports activities editor who has been masking sport for nationwide and worldwide shops since 2000, and is among the longest-tenured MMA journalists within the UK.
Since 2009, Simon has lined MMA for a number of main shops internationally, together with BBC Sport, BBC Three, MMA Junkie/USA At present, BT Sport, Day by day Mirror, The Solar and The Nationwide UAE, in addition to offering official content material to a number of of the world’s prime MMA organizations, together with UFC, ONE Championship, Cage Warriors and the Worldwide Blended Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF).
Simon has additionally run the digital sports activities desks of two UK nationwide newspapers, helped launch a serious UK sports activities broadcaster, and coordinated protection of the London 2012 Olympic Video games, FIFA World Cups, UEFA European Championships, FA Cup Finals, System 1 and MotoGP.
Simon Head
Based mostly in Rochester, England, Simon Head is a veteran sports activities editor who has been masking sport for nationwide and worldwide …
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