Longtime light heavyweight contender Aleksandar Rakic made the move to heavyweight at UFC Belgrade, facing Marcin Tybura as part of Saturday’s Fight Night card, the promotion’s Serbian debut.
Tybura was looking to shake off back-to-back losses, while Rakic had lost four straight and needed a change of fortune badly.
The fight opened a bit scrappy, Rakic firing low kicks and Tybura letting his hands go. Rakic was not deterred and was able to fire off some quick multi-punch combinations. Tybura fanned on a high kick, and they moved back to center. Lots of action in the opening round through the first two minutes. Rakic clearly came out fired up in his heavyweight debut, and Tybura looked game, with no sign of dragging the fight down in the early going from either men. That changed in the final minute when Tybura caught a kick and briefly tried to dump Rakic, but that didn’t work out.
More back-and-forth action played out early in round two. About a minute in, Tybura complained of an eye poke, but didn’t get a break as the ref missed it. Rakic, however, willingly backed off for a moment before re-engaging. From there, it was more exchanges, more leg kicks, but at a slower pace, though still active compared to many a heavyweight fight. A much closer round in the second, given Rakic’s output in the opening frame, which had dropped comparatively in round two.
Round three started with a few more exchanges but with more men slowing down, the fight did end up on the fence. Surprisingly, it was Rakic taking it there, driving Tybura into the fence. Rakic wound up cut open with about two minutes on the clock, but stayed on Tybura and worked in a few shots to the body. Rakic was warned for grabbing the cage, and tried to reverse but couldn’t. He’d finally create some space and look to land a few shots, but Rakic grabbed the fence again. This time, the ref stopped the action and moved them back to center. Less than 20 seconds remained on the clock, however. An Rakic had already done enough to win it anyway.
Official Result: Aleksandar Rakic def. Marcin Tybura by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
