Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka got lost on a hike in the Las Vegas Mountains, leading to a 16-18 hour ordeal that resulted in frostbite on his toe.
Jiri Prochazka, the former UFC light heavyweight champ, is no stranger to the dark. He’s okay with spending days in pitch black, but that’s when he’s indoors.
Outdoors? That’s a different story.
A year ago, he had a frightening experience in the wilderness near Las Vegas. Even now, all he has to do is glance at his toe to remember that day.
He’d planned a trip to the Las Vegas Mountains. “I found some top edge like Mount Charleston,” he shared with AllStar Sport. He realized he needed better gear, so he went back and bought ski shoes, a leather jacket, a Garmin watch, and more.
But he didn’t study the map well enough. It suggested a hike of just a few hours, maybe six. After six hours of high-altitude walking, he realized he had to either turn back or hurry to the end. He chose to push on.
The hike ended up taking over 16 hours. And he’d forgotten to bring a light, thinking it would only be a six-hour trip. He got lost on the mountain.
Prochazka, who’s set to face Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 300, eventually found his way back to his car. He thought he was okay until he checked himself for injuries.
The next day, he noticed his left toe was a bit black. “So I had frostbite,” he said. It took six months for his toe to fully heal, for his nails to regrow, and for him to regain balance in his leg.
In November, he returned to the cage but failed to reclaim the light heavyweight title he’d lost in 2022. He was knocked out by Alex Pereira in a fight for the vacant belt at UFC 295.
Prochazka is known for his unique training methods, like punching trees and sensory deprivation. His wilderness ordeal was another challenging experience, but he embraced it as a modern samurai.
Was he scared? Heck, yeah. But, as he put it, “the fear is the part of ourselves.”
Check out the full interview below.
Near death experience?! Jiri Prochazka (@jiri_bjp) got lost alone while hiking Mount Charleston near Las Vegas in early 2023 during winter and suffered frostbite. The hike was only supposed to be 6 hours but it turned into an 18 hour ordeal. @TheAllStarSport pic.twitter.com/zXWig94zg1— Hyon Ko (@KoreanJohn_) March 14, 2024.