Tag: Aleksandar Rakic

[autotag]Aleksandar Rakic[/autotag] is expecting a drawn-out war against [autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag].

Rakic (12-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) faces Smith (33-15 MMA, 8-5 UFC) in a three-round main event clash Saturday at UFC on ESPN+ 33 in Las Vegas.

The Austrian will look to rebound from his first UFC loss, a split-decision defeat to Volkan Oezdemir last December. However, the loss didn’t prove a huge setback for Rakic, who signed a new six-fight deal with the promotion shortly after, and drew former title challenger Smith for his next assignment.

Prior to his loss to Oezdemir, Rakic was coming off back-to-back first-round finishes of Devin Clark and Jimi Manuwa. But, despite that, he isn’t necessarily expecting a quick finish this time around.

He knows in a matchup with the far more experienced “Lionheart,” the fight could wind up being a back-and-forth battle that goes the full duration of their three-round main event.

“I’m ready for 15 minutes of hell, and I don’t want to predict I’m gonna knock him out in the first or the second or submit him,” Rakic told MMA Junkie. “A fight is a fight – you never know. I’m ready for everything. I’ve been training my striking, my wrestling and my grappling, putting on a new level and also my cardio. So if it goes to the distance, I’m happy. If it’s a knockout or a submission, I’m also happy. … I want to perform at the best and you’re gonna see Saturday what I’ve been doing the past two months.”

In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Smith gave Rakic props for being a dangerous opponent, but dubbed him a “one-trick pony.” When asked his thoughts on Smith’s comments, Rakic said Smith had clearly never watched any of his fights.

“He says I’m one-dimensional so this gives me information that he didn’t check out my fights,” Rakic said. “Because if he checked all my fights out, he’d know that I’m not a one-dimensional fighter. In my second fight against Justin Ledet, he was at the time unbeaten 9-0 and he was ranked No. 15 in the heavyweights. I wrestled him, and I grappled him and put a UFC record in the most difference in the strikes on the ground – I mean the whole fight, but the whole fight was on the ground.

“I showed a little bit of my ground skills, my wrestling. Against Jimi (Manuwa), I showed my knockout power. It’s good for him to think I’m one-dimensional and he’s gonna feel it on Saturday. It doesn’t matter where the fight goes – standup or ground, wrestling – I’m ready for everything.”

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[autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag] is wary of [autotag]Aleksandar Rakic[/autotag]’s power but doesn’t see too many things he should worry about.

Smith (32-15 MMA, 8-5 UFC), who’s been campaigning for a fight with Corey Anderson, admits that Rakic wasn’t really on his radar but is ultimately excited for the matchup. The former UFC light heavyweight title challenger will headline his sixth straight event when he faces Rakic (12-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) at UFC on ESPN+ 33 on Aug. 29.

“I was surprised. I wasn’t expecting Rakic,” Smith told MMA Junkie. “To be honest with you, I was expecting Corey Anderson, so I think with everything and the fallout that happened with Corey and him ending up with Bellator, I think that that probably is a pretty good tell of why we didn’t fight. He just wasn’t accepting fights.

“But when they came with Rakic, I’m good with it. I like the matchup, I like his style. I think his style favors me a lot. He’s kind of a one-trick pony, you kind of know what you’re getting yourself into, and the danger factor is super high, so I think that I had an easier time getting up for this fight than I would vs. like a Corey Anderson.”

In his last outing, Smith suffered a fifth-round stoppage loss to Glover Teixeira in May, a fight in which his corner received plenty of criticism for not throwing in the towel. After a strong start, Smith was cracked by Teixeira, and he had a hard time recovering ever since. He showed incredible heart and resilience, but the fight was eventually stopped.

Rakic, on the other hand, is coming off his first-career loss to Volkan Oezdemir last December. Prior to that, he made quick work of Devin Clark and Jimi Manuwa in less than a round combined.

So while Smith understands that he can’t get complacent against a guy like Rakic, he thinks Rakic’s loss to Oezdemir showed some holes in his game.

“I think at this point I need that danger factor,” Smith said. “I need that guy that’ll keep you up at night. You have something to think about when you’re at the gym. It keeps me sharp. There’s no getting lazy with him. I got caught getting a little distracted and being lazy in the Glover fight, and look what happened. I can’t do that with a guy that’s as explosive and as powerful as Aleksandar Rakic is.”

He continued, “The Volkan fight shows he’s got some toughness there. He’s got some toughness, but once he got cracked and Volkan weathered the storm, you didn’t see Rakic pushing forward like he typically does. He wasn’t bullying Volkan like he does everybody else. So I think that’s a little bit indicative of where he kind of is in his skill level.”