Rakic sends Tybura a video of the Serbian crowd
Ahead of UFC Belgrade, Aleksandar Rakic sent Poland's Marcin Tybura Instagram footage of Serbian fans. Tybura answered at media day by asking whether Rakic put on muscle or fat.
A raised mat in the middle of the Galerija shopping mall, an octagon painted red, two floors of balconies above it packed with people leaning over the railings. That is where UFC fighters stepped out in front of the public on Wednesday, July 29, after the press conference. Aleksandar Rakic loosened up his legs there while shoppers stopped mid errand to watch, but the message he wanted his opponent to get had already been delivered days earlier, privately, through Instagram.
Rakic said he sent Poland’s Marcin Tybura a clip of a Serbian crowd after Tybura posted footage of fans in Australia on his own account. The story ran on July 29 at 10.50 pm, a few hours after the two men saw each other in Belgrade for the first time.
“I saw he posted on his Instagram how he was filming the crowd in Australia, and when I saw it I just smiled. I said: ‘Now I am going to show you something you have never seen in your life.’ Then I sent him the video and he was fascinated, he said he cannot wait to come and see the atmosphere. The crowd has to do its job, it has to be chaos, so that this stays with them for the rest of their lives.”
It was the first direct exchange between the two since both landed in the city. This is not the usual pre fight routine either, because what Rakic sent the Pole was not a threat but an invitation.
What did Tybura say back?
Tybura spoke first at the Galerija media day and did not pretend the setting meant nothing to him. He was also asked about Rakic’s weight, since the Vienna born fighter comes into Belgrade as a heavyweight for the first time, heavier than he has ever been.
“Yes, I expect a different version because he is heavier, and the question is whether he put on muscle or fat,” Tybura said.
Asked how he would handle an arena that will be against him from the opening bell, he kept it short: “Usually it does not bother me, but I do not know what they have in store for me in Serbia.”
Tybura has been fighting in the UFC for more than a decade and currently sits 12th in the heavyweight rankings. In terms of experience he is the only man on this card who can match Rakic, which is precisely why the fight was made.
The first camp without a weight cut
Rakic spent his entire career at light heavyweight. In Belgrade he fights as a heavyweight for the first time, and he says he is not cutting a single gram.
“I am enjoying every second of this week. I cannot eat, I cannot drink, I am completely focused on myself and on my opponent. I do not have to worry about the weight. I think that is the right choice. I cannot wait to give you a great fight,” Rakic said at media day.
Asked what he expects from the arena, he answered with one word and then explained it: “Chaos. I said in interviews that it is on us to deliver a performance.”
Rakic was born and raised in Vienna and is of Serbian descent, and in the UFC he officially represents Austria. Inside Belgrade Arena that administrative line will have nothing to do with what he hears from the stands, and nobody knows that better than he does.
Why this fight matters more than its slot suggests
He walks into the arena on a run of four straight losses. That is the kind of streak that rarely earns a fifth chance in the UFC, and he gets his in front of a crowd that has claimed him as its own his whole life. Moving up a division at this point is not cosmetic, it is an attempt to put a career back on a different track, because light heavyweight had run out of road.
That is also why the video swap is more than a cute Instagram story. Rakic has publicly leaned on the crowd as part of his plan, which is what a fighter does when he knows he needs every decibel he can get.
Rakic against Tybura goes third on the main card:
- Uros Medic against Daniel Rodriguez, the main event
- Jan Blachowicz against Navajo Stirling
- Aleksandar Rakic against Marcin Tybura
We wrote earlier about the full Serbian contingent stepping into the cage, nine fighters in total, five of them making their debut at this level.
The event is on Saturday, August 1, at Belgrade Arena. Tybura has already watched the clip on his phone. All that is left is to hear the same thing live, from a metre and a half away from the cage.
