“Robzilla” is extra motivated.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight Robert Valentin returns to action this weekend against hometown fighter Dusko Todorovic on the UFC Belgrade main card, which goes down Sat., Aug. 1, 2026, inside Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, Serbia.
And for the first time in a while, Valentin sounds like himself again.
It has been a brutal two years for the Swiss fighter, who entered UFC with plenty of eyeballs on him after a strong run on season 32 of The Ultimate Fighter
(TUF). Unfortunately, his official Octagon career got off to a nightmare start.
Valentin was stopped by eventual TUF winner Ryan Loder in the finale (watch highlights). He then was one half of one of the most boring fights you will ever watch when Torrez Finney wrestled him for 15 minutes. After that, Valentin got crushed by super prospect Ateba Gautier in one minute at UFC 319 (watch highlights).
So, within one year of being in UFC, Valentin was 0-3 and on the verge of getting released.
That kind of pressure can mess with a fighter.
“I came off of TUF with a lot of hype, so people were saying a lot of good things about me, and the thing was, I was really believing any of it,” Valentin told UFC.com. “And because of that, I kind of lost the joy of training and doing all of the things I needed to do. Whenever I entered the gym, I felt pressure, like people watching me. Then I lost the finale and then two more — and I felt the pressure getting more and more, which made me lose the joy of it all.”
Eventually, Valentin had to stop caring so much about the noise.
“But then, I finally said, ‘F—k all of you guys. I don’t give a f—k what you think,’” Valentin continued. “I was a kid dreaming of this. Dreaming about being in the UFC, dreaming of fighting in front of millions of people, and that’s what I’m going to do. Win or lose, I’m going to have the best fight possible.”
That change in mindset, combined with finally getting with a more “structured team,” helped Valentin claim his first UFC win and keep his career alive.
More importantly, it helped him enjoy the sport again.
“I found my love for the sport again,” Valentin said. “But the UFC is like every other job — if you f—king love it then you will be successful in it. However, if you pressure yourself to perform, there is a blockade. I think I finally got rid of this. I had to weather the storm, and now I’m just here enjoying everything.”
Now, Valentin enters UFC Belgrade with something he has never had before inside the Octagon:
Momentum.
Finally coming into a UFC fight off a win, “Robzilla” is ready to put on the kind of performance people expected from him when he first entered the promotion.
“It’s always the same when ‘Robzilla’ fights,” Valentin said. “It is violent, all gas no brakes, looking for a finish. I say it every time, tune in and don’t miss it.”
At 0-3, Valentin looked like he might be on his way out.
Now, he is fighting with joy again.
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