Uros Medic nearly had his dream turn into a nightmare after he suffered an injury just days away from his main event fight against Daniel Rodriguez at UFC Belgrade.
The veteran welterweight always wanted the chance to compete at home in Serbia and the UFC finally made that happen for him. But disaster struck when Medic suffered a knee injury during fight week, although to hear him tell it, there was nothing that was going to stop him from fighting in front of his home crowd.
“[I’m] taking care of this
meniscus tear I got on Monday of fight week,” Medic told MMA Fighting. “I tore my meniscus. I hid it pretty well. The UFC [Performance Institute] flushed the fluids out of my knee for me to be able to walk but I was limping. I was just limping around fight week, hoping nobody would see and it wouldn’t come out in the news and wouldn’t give any wind to the back of my opponent. But it was pretty bad.
“We got through it and I just put on a clinic, like I do, so I’m just blessed. The biggest fight was outside of the cage really, getting into the fight week and through the fight week, cutting the weight. That was the real challenge in the fight for me.”
Watching his performance, Medic definitely didn’t show any signs of a knee injury after he effectively scored a knockout over Rodriguez in one of the first exchanges in the fight. Medic dropped Rodriguez with a hard shot and then followed up with a few more punches with the referee stopping the contest at just 30 seconds into the opening round.
Medic celebrated with his fans as UFC Belgrade produced one of the loudest and most raucous audiences in recent history. While he wasn’t anywhere near 100% due to the torn meniscus, Medic was determined to fight at home in Serbia and he wasn’t even all that concerned about the result.
“Listen, this is what makes me a great athlete — not only me but all great athletes,” Medic explained. “This is what makes us professionals. This is why we are at the top of the game. This is why we are chosen. There’s fighters everywhere you look, everyone’s training some kind of fighting nowadays, everyone wants to be a fighter. Only a such a small percentage makes it out there and these are the reasons why. When shit hits the fan, when it’s bad, when everything is stacking against you and everything pointing to the direction where you should consider alternatives, you need to understand that you already burnt the boats. There is nowhere back to go. This is your moment and you’ve got to embrace it and go all in.
“When it was my time, I knew it was my time. This is my moment. Even if I go out on my shield, it’s still my moment and I will fully embrace it. If I lose to a better fighter, I will have no remorse. I have no bad feelings. This is the fight game. This is what I signed up for.”
Of course, Medic scored a blistering knockout so his night ended even better than he could have possibly imagined.
“The most incredible experience I have had as far as sports go,” Medic said. “This is basically my White House fight card and I f*cking delivered it. It is so wonderful enjoying this moment and getting the recognition here in Serbia. It’s just amazing.”
As far as the knee injury goes, Medic confirmed that he expects to have a small surgery to repair the damage done but it’s nothing that will keep him out of action for very long.
“They’re going to have to operate but it’s not invasive,” Medic said. “It’s going to be one of those [arthroscopic] surgeries when they go in with a needle on both sides. I don’t know exactly. Meniscus tears are not a major issue so probably a month of healing time to fix it. I’ll be back in no time.”
With a brief recovery time expected, Medic is definitely planning on competing again before the end of the year with designs on possibly returning in November or December.
“Before the holidays would be amazing,” Medic said. “That way I can go snowboarding after the holidays and just enjoy my time in the mountains. That’s what fuels me, that’s what heals my soul.”
