In June, in Singapore, this solid guy of almost 30 years went to the end of his strength and pain, to become the first Czech world champion of the UFC, the largest organization of MMA.

"Everyone has to find their way, the best for them, and that's what's best for me," he says of this life-saving practice, from his lost refuge in the middle of the forests, half an hour from road from his hometown of Brno (south).

“I meditate, I train and I have the life I aspire to,” he continues.

From the height of his 93 meter, Jiri Prochazka has not always displayed the same serenity.

In the 2000s, a young teenager in search of landmarks, he fell into the hooligan milieu revolving around the FC Zbrojovka Brno football club.

During that handful of years, he says he participated in more than a hundred street fights against other groups.

A "fight" period that he says he does not regret.

"It was part of my life. (...) I needed to be that guy to be who I am today," he explains.

"Treaty of the Five Wheels"

At 17, Jiri Prochazka finds his first escape from hooliganism: he enrolls in kickboxing lessons, and fights legally, until winning a national title two years later.

The young Czech then takes the path of MMA, a discipline that is gaining popularity on a global scale.

His talent quickly brought him to Japan, where he joined the Rizin organization.

It is there, on the advice of his trainer, that he meets a life, those who forge a destiny: "The Treaty of the Five Wheels", a work written in 1645 by the samurai legend Miyamoto Musashi.

The ex-hooligan is imbued with the precepts of this master of arms, and "Bushido", the code of Japanese warriors.

"You have to immerse yourself in yourself, and follow the rules - be honest, courageous and calm in difficult times", summarizes Prochazka, whose top of the head now sports the chonmage, traditional bun of the samurai.

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"I watch and I attack"

Titled in Rizin, Prochazka gets a call-up in 2020 from executives at the Las Vegas-based UFC.

Then his spiritual and sporting ascent led him to this fight for a UFC light-heavyweight world title against the Brazilian Glover Teixeira, 42 years old.

A time in great apparent difficulty, he finally won the belt after an epic fight, led in his image, he judges.

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"Some say my style is unpredictable. But I don't do unpredictable things. I'm calm, I watch for the opponent's weak point, and I attack," he said.

Of his current existence in the woods, the Czech gives a glimpse by pointing his phone camera at a window, beyond which appears a dojo - the combat training platform - and instruments carved into the frame.

Everything has electricity but no running water, requiring frequent trips to the nearest well.

Spartan conditions that suit the new world champion perfectly, he says.

Since this victorious fight, two months have passed and Jiri Prochazka continues to heal a fracture... while preparing the rest of his career and a possible revenge against Teixeira.

"I always look ahead. In our lives, sometimes we have to fight, in different circumstances. So I keep learning. We should never stop learning, in my opinion," concludes the former hooligan.

© 2022 AFP