Clip: The Ariel Helwani Show interview, from the full source linked below.
On The Ariel Helwani Show, Jiří Procházka talks about when fatherhood actually reached him. He says he expected it sooner, right after the birth, and that it arrived instead, quietly, in the middle of a six-week training camp in Thailand, away from his daughter and his girlfriend.
The official YouTube description, for an upload dated November 11, 2026, says the interview "previews his UFC Qatar main event against Navajo Stirling." UFC lists that bout as the five-round light-heavyweight main event of UFC Fight Night: Procházka vs. Stirling, on Saturday, November 21, 2026, at ABHA Arena in Doha, Qatar. ESPN reported the same date, venue, and main-event billing. The fight had not yet taken place as of November 12, 2026, and this article does not state a result. UFC has also identified Procházka as a former light-heavyweight champion; that identification is not made in the clip. There is not yet a RealNameOf biography or real-name page for him. This article stays with what he tells Helwani in the used portion of the interview, and with those labeled event facts.
"You've gone through a training camp now as a father"
In the clip, Helwani comes straight to the new role. "I know you have yet to fight," he says, "but you've gone through a training camp now as a father, and so I'm wondering if you feel any changes."
The "yet to fight" line, in context, is about fighting since becoming a father, ahead of the Doha main event. The clip does not recap his last outing, and this article does not either. Procházka does not hesitate. "Yes. Yes, for sure."
Not right after the birth
He had expected the feeling to arrive sooner than it did. "I thought like it will be much earlier like after the born," he says, "but it came like like very peacefully and quietly in in this last camp."
He does not name the baby or give a birth date. The timing he offers is simpler than that: he thought it would hit him "after the born," and instead, he says, it came later, and quietly.
Six weeks in Thailand
The setting for that delayed feeling was camp. "I was like 6 weeks in a camp in Thailand," he says, "without daughter without my girlfriend."
He does not name the gym, the city, or his girlfriend. He does not say how old the baby was when he left, or how they stayed in touch. What he gives is the distance: six weeks, in Thailand, away from both of them.
That is also the first time, he says, that the new feeling landed. "first time I first time I I felt like something like like like this." He reaches for a way to name it. "for me it's like another kind of love what I what I felt in my life." The phrase is his, in his own English. He does not compare it to a previous relationship, or say what it replaced. He only says he had not felt this kind before, and that it arrived in camp, far from his daughter and his girlfriend.
"It just strengthened me on my way"
He does not describe the feeling as a distraction. The conclusion he draws is the opposite. "So So I believe it just strengthened me on my way."
The used clip ends there. He does not, in this segment, talk about the opponent or offer a prediction for November 21. The answer he leaves is that fatherhood arrived quietly, in Thailand, as "another kind of love," and that he believes it made him stronger on his way. The fuller interview goes on into other parts of the fight preview.
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FAQ
When and where is Jiří Procházka scheduled to fight Navajo Stirling?
UFC and ESPN list the bout as the five-round light-heavyweight main event of UFC Fight Night: Procházka vs. Stirling, on Saturday, November 21, 2026, at ABHA Arena in Doha, Qatar. That date and billing are not spoken in the used clip; they come from those official pages. The fight had not yet taken place as of November 12, 2026.
Did fatherhood change him right away?
He says he thought it would come "much earlier like after the born," but that it came "very peacefully and quietly" during "this last camp."
Where was he when the feeling hit him?
He says he was "6 weeks in a camp in Thailand without daughter without my girlfriend." The clip does not name the gym or the city.
What does he say the feeling was like?
"for me it's like another kind of love what I what I felt in my life." He adds, "I believe it just strengthened me on my way."