Medic vows first-round KO at Belgrade weigh-in
Uros Medic posted his warning at 5:55 p.m. on Friday, then carried a Serbian flag onto the ceremonial weigh-in stage at Belgrade Arena and stared down Daniel Rodriguez without a word.
The last pair walks out last, that is how the running order works. When Uros Medic stepped onto the ceremonial weigh-in stage inside Belgrade Arena on Friday night, he was carrying a large Serbian flag, and the building started chanting his surname. He spread it out, walked to the edge of the platform and waited there for Daniel Rodriguez.
What followed lasted longer than anything else that evening and contained no words at all. The two welterweights stopped a step apart and looked at each other. No shoving, no raised voices, no security wedged in between. The photographers got their frames and the fighters walked off.
Ninety minutes earlier, at 5:55 p.m., Medic had posted a short message:
“People, tomorrow night is the show. I am putting him to sleep in the first round”
That is a bold line from anyone else. From a man who has not seen a second round in his last three fights, it reads more like a schedule.
Both on 171 pounds, no drama on the scale
The official weigh-in produced nothing. Medic and Rodriguez both hit 171 pounds, exactly on the welterweight limit, so the main event was confirmed with no penalty and no catchweight. It is booked for five rounds, the first five-rounder of Medic’s UFC career.
The rest of the Serbian contingent cleared the scale too:
- Dusko Todorovic, 185 pounds, middleweight
- Milos Janicic, 156 pounds, lightweight
- Borislav Nikolic, 136 pounds, bantamweight
- Nina Nikolija Milosevic, 134.5 pounds, women’s bantamweight
- Marina Spasic, 115.5 pounds, women’s strawweight
Jan Blachowicz and Aleksandar Rakic are on the same card, two names that headlined European UFC nights for years. On Saturday they sit below a fighter from Novi Sad on the poster.
Bisping, and the 15-kilometre alcohol ban
After the weigh-in Medic stopped in front of the UFC broadcast team, which included Michael Bisping, the former middleweight champion. The clip went out at 6:18 p.m. and most of it was about his opponent.
“There is no beef, only respect between all the fighters. I am personally not the type of guy who throws the first punch or insults anyone, I will be the last one to do that. All respect to Daniel, he travelled half the world to come and fight me on my home turf, we will have a great fight and I hope we can enjoy ourselves afterwards. Unfortunately for him, I have to come out as the winner, but we can always be friends after the fight”
He kept the same register when explaining why this booking outranks every other one he has had.
“I said it before, when I saw Justin Gaethje walking out to a fight at the White House, that patriotic feeling of fighting on your own ground, I wanted to feel something like that…”
Asked whether the size of the room might get to him, he answered with his own travel log: “I have been in big arenas before, I fought in Las Vegas, in Houston, I have seen a big crowd…”. On the game plan he was just as short: “I plan to fight by my own rules, if the finish comes, great, if not, I will look to do it round by round…”.
Then came a local detail Bisping clearly had not been briefed on: “On fight day, alcohol cannot be served within 15 kilometres of the Arena”. Bisping shot back with “That is a disgrace? Boooo”, then kept going: “Not even restaurants? I am never coming back! I love the people, the food, the atmosphere, but you lost me on that last one”.
What do three straight first-round knockouts actually mean?
They mean the promise is a description of a habit, not a pose. All three of Medic’s most recent wins came by knockout, all three before the first round ended:
- Jeff Neal, February 21, 2026, at 1:19
- Muslim Salikhov, November 8, 2025, at 1:03
- Gilbert Urbina, August 9, 2025, at 1:03
Here is the part the build-up keeps skipping: Urbina is on the Belgrade card himself, at middleweight, against Vlasto Cepo. The man Medic removed in sixty-three seconds walks into the same cage tonight, two divisions up.
Medic was born on April 25, 1993 in Novi Sad, fights under the nickname “The Doctor” and carries a 13-3 record. In June 2026 he sat 14th in the UFC welterweight rankings. Rodriguez is six years older, born December 31, 1986, goes by “D-Rod” and arrives at 20-5, nine professional fights deeper into a career.
What happens on Saturday night
This is the UFC’s first event in Serbia and the first main event Medic has been handed by the promotion. The card runs late, with the headliner not scheduled before 9:30 p.m. local time. We wrote earlier this week about his walkout and the song change, and now the part after the music stops is the only question left.
If it goes the way Medic says it will, the entire main event of Serbia’s first UFC card fits into one minute. If it does not, five rounds against a man with nine more pro fights is an exam he has not had to sit in his last three wins. The answer arrives after 9:30 p.m.
