Jiří Procházka was born on October 14, 1992, in Znojmo, Czechoslovakia, and grew up in the nearby village of Hostěradice in what is now the Czech Republic, according to Wikipedia’s biography of him. His father died at 27 when Procházka was six years old, and as a teenager he was drawn into street fighting, later saying he had been in more than 100 unsanctioned fights, while also taking part in organized football hooliganism tied to FC Zbrojovka Brno. He first became interested in mixed martial arts after watching footage of Ramon Dekkers and Fedor Emelianenko, and he began training seriously in Muay Thai after seeing the film Never Back Down as a teenager. He went on to earn a black belt in Kyokushin karate and later completed a bachelor’s degree in security forces physical fitness policy and a master’s degree in security and strategic studies at Masaryk University in Brno, an academic background that sits somewhat apart from the sport’s usual biographies.

Procházka turned professional in 2012 and spent his first several years fighting on the Czech regional scene for Gladiator Fighting Championship, winning the promotion’s inaugural light heavyweight title with a flying-knee knockout of Martin Šolc in December 2013, a performance later named Czech Fight of the Year, according to the same Wikipedia profile. In 2015 he became the first Czech fighter signed by Japan’s Rizin Fighting Federation, and he spent four years building his reputation there, developing the loose, high-guard striking style and highlight-reel finishes that would later define his UFC run. He won Rizin’s inaugural light heavyweight championship in April 2019, stopping Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal by TKO in the third round, a title reign that made him a known quantity to UFC matchmakers well before he ever signed with the promotion.

Procházka signed with the UFC in 2020 and made an immediate impact, knocking out Volkan Oezdemir in the second round of his promotional debut at UFC 251 in July 2020 to collect a Performance of the Night bonus. Three fights later, on June 12, 2022, he challenged Glover Teixeira for the UFC light heavyweight championship at UFC 275 in Singapore, and in a back-and-forth five-round war he submitted Teixeira with a rear-naked choke at 4:32 of the final round, the first time in Teixeira’s twenty-year career that he had ever tapped out, according to Wikipedia’s event page for UFC 275. The fight was awarded Fight of the Night honors, and Procházka additionally picked up a separate fan-voted bonus paid out in cryptocurrency, a first of its kind for a UFC title fight. The event drew close to eleven thousand fans to the Singapore Indoor Stadium for one of the larger live gates the promotion had run in the region.

Procházka’s professional record stands at 32 wins, 6 losses and 1 draw, with 28 of his wins coming by knockout, according to the UFC’s official athlete profile. Beyond the Teixeira title win, his UFC résumé includes finishes of Dominick Reyes in 2021, Aleksandar Rakić at UFC 300 in April 2024, Jamahal Hill at UFC 311 in January 2025, and Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 320 in October 2025, each of which came with a promotional bonus attached. He has also held two other regional titles before reaching the UFC, the GFC light heavyweight belt in the Czech Republic and the Rizin light heavyweight belt in Japan, making him one of relatively few fighters to have won a UFC title after already carrying championship gold from two other promotions.

Procházka has been awarded five Performance of the Night bonuses, for his wins over Oezdemir, Reyes, Rakić, Hill and Rountree, and three Fight of the Night bonuses, for his fights against Reyes, Teixeira and Rountree, across his UFC tenure, according to Wikipedia’s UFC 300 event page, its UFC 311 counterpart and its UFC 320 counterpart, each of which records his bonus history for that card. That bonus record, combined with his brief reign as light heavyweight champion, has made him a fixture in UFC promotional material and pound-for-pound conversation even during stretches when he was not actively holding a belt. He has also built an independent public profile outside the cage, drawing roughly 75,000 subscribers to his personal YouTube channel where he documents training and travel, a following built almost entirely on his in-cage persona rather than any separate media career.

Like most current UFC athletes, Procházka fights in kit supplied by Venum, the promotion’s official outfitting partner, though outlets tracking his finances note he has secured comparatively few individual sponsorship deals relative to other champions, with brand-related payouts described as landing in a modest range per fight rather than the larger individual endorsement contracts some titleholders command, according to Surprise Sports’ financial breakdown of his career. That relatively light sponsorship load stands out compared to many titleholders, and multiple outlets attribute it partly to his limited English-language media presence and his preference for training in Japan and rural Czech Republic rather than major fight camp hubs where sponsors are more active.

Procházka has built a modest personal brand around his signature catchphrase “BJP,” a Czech expression that translates loosely to “bomb them” and doubles as both his walkout call and the name of a small apparel line he sells to fans, according to Essentially Sports’ reporting on his finances. Unlike many champions who diversify quickly into gyms, supplement lines or media companies, Procházka has kept his business footprint deliberately small, a pattern consistent with the minimalist lifestyle he has described in interviews. The BJP brand’s specific revenue has not been publicly disclosed, and it is best understood as a modest supplementary income stream around his fighting career rather than a significant separate business.

Procházka is notably private about personal wealth and has not disclosed ownership of any high-value real estate or vehicles. Since around 2017 he has lived in a modest cottage roughly thirty minutes outside Brno, near a reservoir, a property he has described as having only basic utilities including electricity, gas and water rather than the sort of upgraded estate many champions acquire once they start earning UFC purses, according to Wikipedia’s profile of him. That choice appears to be deliberate rather than circumstantial. Procházka has spoken repeatedly about preferring a simple, low-overhead life close to nature, and nothing in his public record points to major property acquisitions, luxury vehicle purchases or other significant asset accumulation typically associated with a former UFC champion.