Aleksandar Rakic Ditches the Weight Cut for a Heavyweight Reset in Belgrade

Aleksandar Rakic is done starving himself. The 34-year-old, ranked #13 at light heavyweight with a 14-6 record, moves up to heavyweight this Saturday to face divisional mainstay Marcin Tybura at the Belgrade Arena — his first fight ever on home soil in Serbia. It's a debut born less of ambition than of arithmetic: his last few 205-pound cuts pushed 38 to 39 pounds, and his body kept sending the bill.

Rakic has been cutting weight for two decades, since he laced up for kickboxing at 14. He says the doctors were blunt about it — the cuts aren't healthy anymore, not if he wants a life after fighting. And by his own admission, he's no small light heavyweight. He's got the height, the reach and the frame, so he figures dragging his speed and explosiveness up a division is more upgrade than gamble.

The Ferrari Problem

He's not alone in the migration. A wave of light heavyweights has tested heavyweight water lately, including two-time champ Alex Pereira (13-4). Rakic's pitch is simpler than most: he already trains at this weight and lives at it. He likened the old routine to owning a Ferrari and only pouring in a splash of gas — a full camp spent chipping away at your own engine right before you need it most. This week, he says, he's finally enjoying fight week, eating and training with a full tank.

The results, to be fair, needed changing too. Rakic hit the UFC off an eight-fight regional streak and won his first four, before a debated split-decision loss to Volkan Oezdemir. Wins over Anthony Smith (now 38-22) and Thiago Santos steadied him, and set up a meeting with ex-champ Jan Blachowicz. That's where it unraveled.

A Dark Stretch

A knee injury early in the third round against Blachowicz cost him well over a year. He came back at UFC 300 and got stopped by Jiri Prochazka, dropped a decision to Magomed Ankalaev six months later, then fell to then-unbeaten Azamat Murzakanov (16-1) at UFC 321 by first-round TKO. Rakic calls it a heavy, dark stretch, but he frames it as a story worth telling: everyone loses eventually, even the guys who retire undefeated, and the comeback is the part people remember.

There's real pressure on both men. Rakic's last win is five years old, and a four-fight skid is a weight all its own. Tybura arrives on a two-fight losing streak, which makes him equally desperate. Rakic says he'll give everything for the win in front of his home crowd, as much to lift the pressure off his shoulders as to prove the move up was the right call.