Aleksandar Rakic is counting down the days to his return to the octagon against Jiri Prochazka at UFC 300, following a lengthy injury lay off.
After working his way to number 3 in the Light Heavyweight division, Rakic faced number one contender, and former champion Jan Blachowicz in the main event of a UFC Fight Night in May of 2022. Following two back and forth rounds, Rakic went to step out of range of the oncoming Blachowicz when his right knee completely gave out from underneath him, it was later revealed that he had torn his ACL.
The rematch between the two was then set for UFC 297 but Blachowicz had to withdraw through injury, which ultimately resulted in Rakic being rescheduled against Prochazka UFC 300 instead. Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Rakic explained the reasons behind his long road to recovery. He said:
“It was a long period of time. I was recovering (for a) really long (time) from that knee injury. It didn't go like 100% everything well but now I'm 100% ready. Man, I'm really motivated (with) not fighting for two years, but being on, you know, all the time. I've watched millions of fights. I've trained a lot.
“And I was always watching the division moving on, you know, and that and the fire in myself was burning, you know, and I'm really motivated. I've never been so motivated for a fight like this, you know, against this opponent and on this show. So, yeah, I counting the days, the seconds and the and the hours!”
Not only has the road to recovery led to Rakic feeling physically stronger but mentally too. He admitted that one of the most difficult parts of being sidelined for such an extensive period of time was watching the 205lb division develop without him.
“Oh, it was it was a nightmare for me. It was really hell. Seeing all the guys fighting, Jiri, Glover, Hill, Ankalaev, Jan, they're all my rivals and they're fighting. It's like the kids are playing outside and you are behind the window watching them and you are not able to play with them. I went to really dark places and this made me only tougher, mentally.
“I've been working really on my techniques in every aspect of the game. And I can promise you that the new version of Aleksandar Rakic now, it's a different version in a better way. I believing in God and that was God's plan.
“I've been through this so and if I (can) survive these two years, then the other next two, three, four years can come. I will handle this easy. This was the hard part for me.”
Rakic simply seen the Blachowicz rematch as a chance to get back competing. Although it goes down as a loss at the hands of the Polishman, Rakic doesn’t feel he lost the fight because of anything Blachowicz done.
He believes the Prochazka fight is more fan friendly and is ecstatic to be facing a top contender in return.
“Of course I want to close this chapter with Jan but I really don't feel that I lost that fight. That I lost the fight against Jan because he was the better man. I lost the fight because I injured myself and I beat myself, you know?
“So, this fight I didn't see as a revenge, it was a just a normal regular fight. But I think for the fans is more exciting to fight Jiri Prochazka. He's from Czech Republic, I’m living in Austria, we are like really close to each other. We are both Europeans, we are both young and we are he has a very exciting style.
“I love to test myself against a former champion and like this style. Like Conor (McGregor) says, styles make fights, and I want to test myself against his style because I see many good things, in what he's doing, but I see also many, many holes in his game.
"If I can close up these holes, it's going to be a good night for me."
Rakic vs Prochazka is one of four fights already announced for the April 13th card, with Bo Nickal vs Cody Brundage, Calvin Kattar vs Aljamain Sterling and Charles Oliveira vs Arman Tsarukyan all set to feature.
