This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Jiri Prochazka Turns 30
Long revered as one of the sport’s most violent and entertaining performances, Jiri Prochazka now has some tangible hardware to go along with the cult following.
Prochazka—who celebrates his 30th birthday on Oct. 14—moved into another competitive tax bracket in June, when he submitted Glover Teixeira with a rear-naked choke in the fifth round of their UFC 275 headliner and laid claim to the undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title. The emotionally charged victory improved “Denisa” to 29-3-1 overall and a perfect 3-0 inside the Octagon. Prochazka has now delivered 28 of his 29 professional wins by knockout, technical knockout or submission—a staggering 97% finish rate. The Czech will defend his title in a UFC 282 rematch with Teixeira on Dec. 10.
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OCT. 1
Helio Gracie, 1913-2009Jack McLaughlin, 61
Devin Cole, 46
Jerrod Sanders, 42
Christine Stanley, 42
Ryan LaFlare, 39
Norma Dumont, 32
Alexander Hernandez, 30
Fan Rong, 29
Dennis Buzukja, 25
OCT. 2
David Heath, 46Takayo Hashi, 45
Alexandre Pimentel, 44
Ed Herman, 42
Marlen Magee, 42
Kevin Zalac, 40
Alex Reyes, 36
Michael Parkin, 27
Levan Chokheli, 26
Anita Karim, 26
OCT. 3
Branko Cikatic, 1954-2020Thiago Alves, 39
Beslan Isaev, 39
Leo Kuntz, 39
Kentaro Watanabe, 39
Dave Herman, 38
Seok Mo Kim, 36
Sirwan Kakai, 33
Waldo Cortes-Acosta, 31
Yutaro Muramoto, 28
OCT. 4
Milton Vieira, 44Joshua Burkman, 42
Liam McGeary, 40
Alexis Davis, 38
Ralek Gracie, 37
Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger, 37
Andrew Bard, 35
Erik Koch, 34
Michinori Tanaka, 32
Bryce Mitchell, 28
OCT. 5
Hiromitsu Kanehara, 52Lee Brousseau, 48
Rich Franklin, 48
Matt Hamill, 46
Kenji Arai, 43
Lucas Lopes, 43
Kyle Baker, 42
Robert Drysdale, 41
Valeriu Mircea, 29
Grant Neal, 27
OCT. 6
Cyrille Diabate, 49Olly Bradstreet, 39
Tyson Nam, 39
Brett Martinez, 36
Masio Fullen, 35
Jennifer Maia, 34
Sean Soriano, 33
Nasrudin Nasrudinov, 31
Yair Rodriguez, 30
Michel Pereira, 29
OCT. 7
Akihiro Gono, 48Billy Evangelista, 42
Kyacey Uscola, 41
Chris Mickle, 39
C.J. Hamilton, 36
Yuta Sasaki, 33
Jordan Wright, 31
Mike Davis, 30
Luis Rafael Laurentino, 30
Casey O'Neill, 25
OCT. 8
Siala-Mou Siliga, 52Ryo Chonan, 46
Roger Hollett, 44
Francisco Rivera, 41
Ken Stone, 40
Will Brooks, 36
Kevin Medinilla, 31
Koyomi Matsushima, 30
Ji Won Kang, 27
Raul Rosas Jr., 18
OCT. 9
Gene LeBell, 1932-2022Tadao Yasuda, 62
Josh Diekmann, 46
Joe Doerksen, 45
Juan Espino, 42
Luis Palomino, 42
Jorge Santiago, 42
Daniel Puder, 41
Blagoy Ivanov, 36
Askar Askarov, 30
OCT. 10
Brad Mitchell, 48Brandon Vera, 45
Douglas Evans, 42
Terry Martin, 42
Doo Won Seo, 41
Mitch Gagnon, 38
Carla Esparza, 35
Marcin Bandel, 33
Jordan Mein, 33
Fabricio Andrade, 25
OCT. 11
Coty Wheeler, 44Francis Carmont, 41
Charles Byrd, 39
Nick Denis, 39
Desmond Green, 33
Sean Felton, 32
Sheymon Moraes, 32
Dave Burrow, 31
Johnny Soto, 30
Arman Tsarukyan, 26
OCT. 12
Fred Ettish, 67John McCarthy, 60
Wes Sims, 43
Jason High, 41
Bashir Ahmad, 40
Ronnie Mann, 36
Omari Akhmedov, 35
Kairat Akhmetov, 35
Kyoji Horiguchi, 32
Kanna Asakura, 25
OCT. 13
Matt Hughes, 49Bryan Baker, 37
Talita Nogueira, 37
John Albert, 36
Saiful Merican, 34
Borys Mankowski, 33
Raymond Pina, 32
Jordan Williams, 32
Yoshiki Nakahara, 30
Pavel Gordeev, 29
OCT. 14
Mikhail Zayats, 41Dustin Joynson, 37
Kathina Lowe, 37
Tony Sims, 37
Jim Alers, 36
Musa Khamanaev, 35
Josh Grispi, 34
Raquel Canuto, 32
Jiri Prochazka, 30
Tafon Nchukwi, 28
OCT. 15
John Dixson, 67Scott Lighty, 44
Darren Uyenoyama, 43
Art Arciniega, 41
Jacob Draves, 40
Vaughan Lee, 40
Jarjis Danho, 39
Karolina Kowalkiewicz, 37
Khama Worthy, 36
T.J. Laramie, 25
OCT. 16
Kazuyuki Fujita, 52Mike Hayes, 42
Rafael Rebello, 42
Frankie Edgar, 41
Maximo Blanco, 39
Kleber Koike Erbst, 33
Movlid Khaybulaev, 32
Murad Ramazanov, 27
Mitch Raposo, 24
Nurullo Aliev, 23
OCT. 17
Joey Villasenor, 47Rex Richards, 42
Holly Holm, 41
Ben Rothwell, 41
Buddy Roberts, 40
Luke Rockhold, 38
Edimilson Souza, 38
Omar Morales, 37
Charles Oliveira, 33
Raulian Paiva, 27
OCT. 18
Stoney Hale, 43Greg Nagy, 39
Alonzo Menifield, 35
Jorina Baars, 34
Ji Yeon Kim, 33
Mark Abelardo, 31
Quang Le, 31
Anthony Hernandez, 29
Abubakar Khasiev, 25
Bogdan Kudelya, 22
OCT. 19
Yukiko Seki, 52Gilbert Smith, 41
Gokhan Saki, 39
Terry Etim, 37
Juliana Velasquez, 36
Drew Dober, 34
Sabah Homasi, 34
Sean Powers, 33
Wendell Giacomo, 28
Akhmed Khamzaev, 22
OCT. 20
John Fraser, 45Rafael Dias, 43
Josh Copeland, 40
Hayder Hassan, 40
Paul Redmond, 36
Daniele Miceli, 35
Ashley Yoder, 35
Liliya Shakirova, 31
Aleksi Toivonen, 31
Mario Filipe de Sousa , 26
OCT. 21
Gil Castillo, 57Akihiro Fujisawa, 43
Clint Godfrey, 40
Shawn Jordan, 38
Jason Radcliffe, 37
Demoreo Dennis, 35
Talison Soares Costa, 34
Ed Ruth, 32
Lowen Tynanes, 32
Nathan Pierce, 30
OCT. 22
Enrique Briones, 42Ajlin Ahmic, 38
Kosuke Suzuki, 38
Marcel Fortuna, 37
Rin Nakai, 36
Alex White, 34
Austin Arnett, 31
Amanda Bobby Brundage, 31
Iuri Lapicus, 27
Kleydson Rodrigues, 27
OCT. 23
Michelle Pearce, 48Jason Butcher, 38
Shelton Graves, 37
Magomedrasul Khasbulaev, 36
Jeremy May, 36
Jake Collier, 34
Adam Piccolotti, 34
Andre Soukhamthath, 34
Francisco Figueiredo, 33
Shavkat Rakhmonov, 28
OCT. 24
Orlando Wiet, 57Hiroko Yamanaka, 44
David Mitchell, 43
James McSweeney, 42
Mark Bocek, 41
Jesse Forbes, 38
Alexander Volkov, 34
Kelvin Gastelum, 31
Sean O'Malley, 28
James Gallagher, 26
OCT. 25
Eric Davila, 46Travis Marx, 45
Jeremiah O'Neal, 45
Keith Wisniewski, 41
Augusto Montano, 38
Keith Berry, 35
James Gray Jr., 35
Danielle Taylor, 33
Zviad Lazishvili, 31
Carlos Hernandez, 29
OCT. 26
Mark Schultz, 62Art Santore, 50
Phil Brooks, 44
Alejandro Villalobos, 44
Seth Baczynski, 41
Cindy Dandois, 38
Rafael dos Anjos, 38
Joey Gambino, 34
James Nakashima, 34
Askar Mozharov, 28
OCT. 27
Semmy Schilt, 49Sherron Leggett, 44
Misaki Takimoto, 42
Tessa Simpson, 36
Julio Arce, 33
Chauncey Foxworth, 31
Jose Mariscal, 30
Amir Albazi, 29
Jairo Pacheco, 25
Nikita Mikhailov, 24
OCT. 28
Jigoro Kano, 1860-1938Bobby Hoffman, 56
Alex Chambers, 44
Mike Ciesnolevicz, 43
Glover Teixeira, 43
L.C. Davis, 42
Will Noland, 42
Jaimelene Nievera, 38
Isao Kobayashi, 34
Heqin Lin, 29
OCT. 29
Will Kerr, 40Jason Langellier, 39
Antonio Braga Neto, 35
Matthew Lozano, 34
Shinju Nozawa-Auclair, 29
Shuo Wang, 28
Ilya Freymanov, 27
Nicolo Solli, 25
Chelsea Hackett, 23
Sora Yamamoto, 22
OCT. 30
Ansar Chalangov, 43Hong Man Choi, 42
Katsunori Kikuno, 41
Deray Davis, 40
Ed West, 39
Jeremiah Wells, 36
Kevin Belingon, 35
Bi Nguyen, 33
Jason Jackson, 32
Veronica Macedo, 27
OCT. 31
Jason Reinhardt, 53Keith Jardine, 47
Joe Warren, 46
Daniel Kelly, 45
Waylon Lowe, 42
Yoshiro Maeda, 41
Dan Cramer, 37
Myles Jury, 34
Kai Asakura, 29
Janaisa Morandin, 28
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