At UFC 308 this coming weekend, there are several incredibly meaningful fights that fans are looking forward to, including the light heavyweight bout between Aleksandar Rakic and Magomed Ankalaev.
Heading into the PPV and his highly anticipated clash with Magomed Ankalaev, the popular 14-4 light heavyweight contender remains one of the biggest underdogs on the entire card at around +300, but can Aleksandar Rakic upset the applecart out in Abu Dhabi?
Aleksandar Rakic can’t wait to ‘crash the party’ and upset Ankalaev’s applecart
Whilst the bookies are predicting an Ankalaev shut-out at UFC 308, fans would do well to remember that the Serb remains one of the most dangerous strikers in the division, with nine career wins by KO/TKO, and was battering Jiri Prochazka before BJP’s second-round comeback last time out.
“It’s time to remind the fans and the people in the UFC who ‘The Rocket’ is from back in the day,” teased Rakic at the UFC 308 pre-fight press conference, noting that: “I am ready to crash the party on Saturday and mix things up.”
Should the 18-1-1 Ankalaev earn the victory this coming weekend, the UFC will likely push him into a title fight against Brazilian superstar Alex Pereira in early 2025.
“I take this chance very seriously; I’ve been working really hard for this one,” Rakic reacted to MMA Junkie, explaining how as the Russian appears to be looking ahead to Pereira, he’s fully focused on scoring a dramatic underdog upset.
“On social media, I was seeing everything that was going back and forth with Ankalaev and Pereira… I didn’t want to say anything as my main focus was to train hard, be ready for Ankalaev and be 100% focused on him; Put on a show on Saturday and crash the party.”
In fact, Rakic believes that Ankalaev could be about to make a major mistake if he tries to prove himself worthy of facing Pereira by changing his fight style to get the fans on his side.
“It’s a mixed martial arts fight you know, I had a very good camp where we prepared for every scenario; striking, wrestling, or grappling, we will see where the fight goes… Maybe he’s going to shoot for a takedown, maybe he wants to prove his standup [to set up the fight] against Alex Pereira, you never know.
“I don’t even pay attention to what he’s been saying about Pereira – the most important thing is on Saturday night, how is he going to fight against me?”
Aleksandar Rakic’s coach reveals what went wrong vs Prochazka
On the UFC 308 Embedded series, Rakic’s wrestling coach Babak Moghaddam revealed that his athlete was taking a course of antibiotics for his last fight with former champion Prochazka; which explains why the momentum of that bout swung so significantly in the second round.
“At UFC 300, he fought Jiri Prochazka on antibiotics, and you saw what happened… In the first round he was totally dominating and after second round, when he was sitting on the stool, he told me ‘Coach, I can’t feel my legs’.
“He never told anybody, but you know, the past is the past,” admitted Moghaddam, before teasing that they’re coming into UFC 308 with the underdog mindset as they chase a long-awaited fight with Poatan.
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“Unfortunately, we’ve had a black cloud over us but this camp, we have a great feeling for this fight. People don’t know who they’re dealing with, and we like that, this is the only guy who can stop Alex Pereira – without a doubt.”
Ankalaev vs Rakic goes down live this weekend at UFC 308, scheduled for October 26 in Abu Dhabi.
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