Oktagon 38’s Matěj Peňáz on why Jiri Prochazka calls him “Money”

Matěj Peňáz tests skills with Joel dos Santos at Oktagon 38 on December 30th.

Peňáz was a guest on Bowks Talking Bouts and we touched on his first fight rebounding from his failed Contender Series bid, his multifaceted history with Jiri Prochazka, and so much more. Excerpts from our chat are below.

Matěj Peňáz

Prior training efforts and the nickname bestowing history with Jiri Prochazka

“I trained with Jiri (Prochazka) before because I changed the gym. But before like we trained together I think six years. I mean in the preparation for Dominick Reyes because I am also southpaw, the same size like Dominick. So it’s always perfect for me and I always love it to work with Jiri because like Jiri is a really good guy. Big motivation I think for all the fighters from the Czech (Republic).”

“But now I am more in the Sweden, more in the Stockholm. So I work in the Allstars (Training Center) gym and also in the Reinders (MMA) gym in the Czech Republic. So I am not so often in contact with Jiri.”

Oktagon 38

Peňáz continued, “My surname Peňáz in Slovakia, it means money. So we were on the fight in Slovakia with Jiri Prochazka and he started to call me like ‘Money’ and it stayed with me to now. Because the meaning Peňáz, it means money.”

Peňáz’s thoughts on his upcoming opponent dos Santos

“I think he has a lot of experience with MMA. Yeah, I think he’s going to want to wrestle me and I am prepared for that. I think it’s like for sure like he has a lot of fights but I think it’s not so big problem for me. Because I have a lot of experience from the kickboxing and Thai boxing. So I think it’s not so big difference between us.”

Dylan Bowker

I've been enamored with combat sports for as long as I can remember. I've hosted MMA talk shows Lights Out and Pure Fight Radio with featured guests like Jens Pulver, Roy Nelson, Miesha Tate, Mark Coleman, and more. I've been an MMA broadcaster for XFFC as well as BTC and have done play by play commentary on live pay per view on GFL as well as FITE TV. I've provided written, audio, and video content covering some of the biggest MMA promotions like Rumble in the Cage, Unified MMA, and King of the Cage. I've worked as a sports entertainment personality for over five years and given play-by-play or featured promotions of KSW, ONE Championship, TKO, and Invicta FC. My work can be found in the USA Today Sports affiliate MMA Torch, Cageside Press, MMA Sucka, and Liberty Multimedia.

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