Las Vegas, NV — For light heavyweight contender Aleksandar Rakic, a fight with Jan Blachowicz that fell through early this year has given way to a higher ranked opponent and higher profile fight at UFC 300 this Saturday.
Rakic (14-3) will now fight Jiri Prochazka in the featured preliminary card bout at the massive UFC event in Las Vegas. Despite being two years out of action due to an ACL injury, Austria’s Rakic doesn’t feel like he’s coming off an extended layoff.
“Almost two years not competing, but to be honest it doesn’t feel like it. It feels for me like five, six months,” Rakic told media outlets including Cageside Press on Wednesday. “What a comeback to have, on the biggest card of the year.”
“Those two years just put oil on the fire,” he added.
There’s a personal beef of sorts between Rakic and his opponent heading into UFC 300, which at the least has made the war of words interesting. “Me and Jiri had some back-and-forth beef on Twitter. He’s from Europe, I’m from Europe, he’s living not far away from where I live. So let’s find out who the King of Europe is, and later on, the King of the World is,” Rakic suggested.
Prochazka has downplayed and dismissed the “King of Europe” concept, and addressed the trash talk of Rakic later in the day on Wednesday. Rakic himself seems to feel that if things are personal between them, it’s on Prochazka’s side.
“He took it personal a couple of years ago, but I really don’t care.” After Blachowicz cancelled their prior engagement, Rakic “immediately” called out Prochazka, and after some back-and-forth on a date, “[UFC matchmaker] Mick Maynard made the offer, let’s do it at UFC 300, and I was a hundred percent in.”
“It’s going to be a hard fight, for me also and for him as well. He feels very good in chaos, and I’m a guy who can settle the chaos,” Rakic added. “That’s going to be an amazing fight.”
The words that have appeared to irk Prochazka the most, however, were Rakic’s claim that the Czech is a “fake Samurai,” something he elaborated on while speaking with Cageside Press on Wednesday.
“I said he’s a fake Samurai, because you cannot become a Samurai after just reading a book, that his coach gave to him, and live this spirit. If you are a Samurai, you need to live this for a long time and not for the last two, three years. So that’s why I said he’s a fake Samurai.”
Watch the full UFC 300 media day appearance by Aleksandar Rakic above.
