UFC Belgrade start times: Medic's walkout not before 9.30
The full running order in Belgrade Arena is set: studio show at 2.30 pm, prelims at 4 pm, main card at 7 pm. By the clock, Medic and Rodriguez should not walk out before 9.30 pm.
Days ago the floor of Belgrade Arena was still under black tarpaulin. Crews in hi-vis vests ran cable beneath a half built platform, lighting rigs hung from dozens of chains overhead, and the seats at Bulevar Arsenija Carnojevica 58 sat empty. Tonight the cage goes into that space.
UFC Belgrade, officially UFC Fight Night: Medic vs Rodriguez, starts far earlier in the day than most people assumed. The studio show, UFC Preshow, goes on air at 2.30 pm with Katarina Stamatovic hosting. Prelims begin at 4 pm local time, the main card at 7 pm.
When we covered this earlier, the only fixed points were the 4 pm first bell and the fact that Uros Medic closes the night. The rest of the day is now filled in: the studio slot, the order of all 14 bouts from the official event page, the broadcast channels and the names in the commentary booth.
When does Uros Medic walk out?
There is no published walkout time, and the UFC does not usually give one. What is left is arithmetic. The main card opens at 7 pm, five fights run before the headliner, so Medic and Daniel Rodriguez should reach the cage between 9.30 and 10 pm. That is an estimate drawn from the running order, not an announced slot. One first round knockout earlier in the card pulls it forward. Five fights going the distance pushes it back.
Medic and Rodriguez meet at welterweight, scheduled for five rounds.
Main card order
- Uros Medic vs Daniel Rodriguez, welterweight, five rounds
- Jan Blachowicz vs Navajo Stirling, light heavyweight
- Aleksandar Rakic vs Marcin Tybura, heavyweight
- Dusko Todorovic vs Robert Valentin, middleweight
- Vlasto Cepo vs Gilbert Urbina, middleweight
- Milos Janicic vs Noah Gugnon, lightweight
The card runs from the bottom up. Janicic and Gugnon open at 7 pm, Blachowicz against Stirling is the co-main event, and Medic and Rodriguez close the show.
Eight fights on the prelims
The first bell of the night belongs to Marina Spasic and Stephanie Luciano at women’s strawweight, at 4 pm sharp. The prelims run in this order:
- Marina Spasic vs Stephanie Luciano
- Jovan Leka vs Alexander Poppeck
- Nina Nikolija Milosevic vs Hailey Cowan
- Mateusz Rebecki vs Kyle Prepolec
- Dennis Buzukja vs Bogdan Grad
- Borislav Nikolic vs Mark Vologdin
- Oban Elliott vs Michael Oliveira
- Ludovit Klein vs Tofiq Musayev, lightweight
Klein against Musayev is the last fight before the break, and the only prelim bout that lands in prime time, just before 7 pm.
Where to watch it
Regional coverage runs on Arena Premium 1 and Arena Fight, with a live blog on tvarenasport.com. Petar Popovic and Igor Spadijer break down all 14 fights, joined in studio by UFC fighter Bojan Velickovic.
In the United States the event streams on Paramount+ only, prelims from 10 am and the main card from 1 pm Eastern. American viewers get Belgrade in the middle of their afternoon, well outside prime time, which is the price of letting Serbia see its main event before midnight.
What the date means for Serbia
Belgrade is the 170th city and Serbia the 33rd country to host a UFC event. Until now Serbian fighters flew to Las Vegas, Abu Dhabi or Paris for their debuts. Tonight they walk to the cage in front of a crowd that got there on foot.
Alongside Medic, the card lists Aleksandar Rakic, Dusko Todorovic, Vlasto Cepo, Milos Janicic, Nina Nikolija Milosevic, Jovan Leka, Borislav Nikolic and Marina Spasic. Nine names on a 14 fight card is a share that events outside the big MMA markets rarely get, and it explains the choice of Belgrade better than any promotional line.
First bell at 4 pm, last one probably around 11. Everything in between depends on how long each fight lasts.
