This past weekend at UFC 327, Carlos Ulberg was hurt early in the fight, but still managed to finish Jiri Prochazka before the end of the first round, and now Sean O’Malley has given his take on the situation.
Ulberg and Prochazka squared off in Saturday night’s main event inside the Kaseya Center in Miami for the vacant 205-pound title. During the opening stanza of the fight, Ulberg sustained an injury to his lower leg that certainly would have affected his ability to compete as things progressed. At this point, many felt Prochazka would close in and finish the fight at any second, but he was unable to find the right opportunity to do so.
Just as Prochazka seemed to be settling in to throw some heavier punches, Ulberg caught him with a check-left hook that dropped the former champion to the canvas. From the grounded position, Prochazka tried to survive, but the onslaught of punches was too much to sustain, and the referee was forced to intervene.
Sean O’Malley is fresh off his win over Song Yadong earlier this year, and is scheduled to face Aiemann Zahabi next from the South Lawn of the White House for UFC Freedom 250 on June 14th. In a recent reaction video posted to his YouTube channel, the former bantamweight titleholder analyzed the situation and stated that Prochazka knew Ulberg was hurt, and “just didn’t capitalize on it”. O’Malley is on the long list of fighters who understand the severity of mid-fight leg injuries, as he suffered his first professional loss in 2020 to Marlon Vera by TKO following a low kick that connected with his peroneal nerve.
“Jiri literally had him,” O’Malley said. “He was like 90 percent had him finished. Leg, something was going on with his stuff. Every time he threw that calf kick, Carlos just ate it. He wasn’t even throwing right hands behind it. He was just eating them, and Jiri just didn’t capitalize on it. He kind of rushes in, he has Carlos backed up against the cage. Carlos has a right hand and a left hook pretty much. That’s it, and Jiri’s hands just down by his hip.”