The UFC ventured to the county of Serbia for the first time in its history on Saturday for a stellar card. The UFC Belgrade main event featured the homecoming of Uros Medic, who took on Daniel Rodriguez, fresh off his Mexican jail stint in an interesting ranked welterweight scrap. In the co-main event a changing of the guard fight between Jan Blachowicz vs. Navajo Stirling. This card broke the record for most finishes within a single card in the modern era with 12 of the 14 bouts ending with a finish.
Daniel Rodriguez
(#14) Uros Medic smoked (#13) Daniel Rodriguez just seconds into their bout in the main event of UFC Belgrade. Daniel now falls to 10-5 with the promotion since being signed off the Contender Series in 2019. The loss snapped a 3-fight win streak for D-Rod as he had defeated Alex Morono, Santiago Ponzinibbio and Kevin Holland since June of 2024.
Rodriguez should fight Geoff Neal or Chidi Njokuani. These two fighters were scheduled to fight on August 15th before Neal withdrew from the bout. If this is not a matchup that is rebooked D-Rod would be an excellent matchup for either guy. Neal is 8-6 with the UFC and off the 2017 season of the Contender Series. Geoff has lost three of his last four fights including a first round KO to loss to Uros Medic back in February. Njokani is 5-5 with the UFC and off the 2021 season of the Contender Series. He’s riding a two-fight skid losing against Jake Matthews and most recently, Carlos Leal. Leaning towards a matchup against a formerly ranked opponent like Geoff Neal but Chidi could also work here.
Rodriguez’s next fight: Geoff Neal
Jan Blachowicz
(#11) Navajo Stirling flattened former light heavyweight champion (#15) Jan Blachowicz in a little over half a round on Saturday in the co main event of UFC Belgrade. A devastating outcome for Jan who is now 12-9-2 with the UFC since 2014 and has gone 0-3-2 in his last five bouts. It’s also been nothing but injuries and mishaps for the 43-year-old recently as he’s had 3 cancelled fights in the past 2.5 years.
Perfect matchup for Jan would be to give him Nikita Krylov here. A previous losers article listed another matchup against Bogdan Guskov who fought Jan to a draw and has had two cancelled fights with Jan. But seeing the rankings in this situation that doesn’t make much sense with Bogdan inside the top 10 and have just lost to the #2 ranked fighter. Krylov is a good matchup. Hes 12-10 with the promotion and has lost three of his last four. Krylov has been finished in all of those losses including against Bogdan Guskov in 2025 and most recently opposite of Robert Whittaker at UFC 329. Easy booking here.
Blachowicz’s next fight: Nikita Krylov
Marcin Tybura
Aleksandar Rakic finally got back into the win column notching one of the few decisions on Saturday with his unanimous decision victory against Marcin Tybura. Tybura is now 14-11 in the UFC. He’s riding a 3-fight losing streak.
Tybura should be matched up against a familiar foe in his next fight. Marcin should take on Derrick Lewis. This was a matchup identified in a previous losers article as well. Derrick and Marcin first fought back in early 2018. Derrick got the KO midway through the third round, but it was a very competitive scrap. Lewis is also on a 2-fight skid so this is one that could make sense for the Black Beast. He also has a somewhat similar record with the promotion at 20-12. This heavyweight banger could be on the main card of a fight night card.
Tybura’s next fight: Derrick Lewis II
Dusko Todorovic
Robert Valentin finished the fight via a slick guillotine choke with less than a minute left in the first round of his bout against Dusko Todorovic. Dusko is now 4-7 with the UFC since coming off of the 2019 season of the Contender Series.
Dusko’s next bout should be against the loser of Wes Schultz vs. Jackson McVey. That fight goes down on August 22nd so the timing would be fine. McVey is 1-2 with the UFC and has loss to Brunno Ferreira and Zach Reese. He was also scheduled to have a bout against Robert Valentin in November of 2025 but the bout fell through. Wes is 1-1 with the promotion since being signed of the 2025 season of the contender series (where he earned redemption after an appearance the year prior) The loser of this bout would be a perfect matchup to help reset Dusko. Loser of that next matchup could very well be in the hot seat for their spot on the roster.
Todorovic’s next fight: Wes Schultz vs. Jackson McVey loser
Vlasto Cepo
Gilbert Ulbina took exactly a minute to flatten Vlasto Cepo with a straight left and then finish the fight with round and pound. Vlasto now falls to 0-1 with the promotion. He will look to pick up the pieces from his nightmare of a debut in his next bout.
Cepo’s next fight should be against Julien Leblanc. Julien is 0-1 with the promotion as well and was also finished in his debut. He took on Robert Valentin back in April and was submitted via rear naked choke midway through the round. Good fight to make between two men that struggled out of the starting blocks.
Cepo’s next fight: Julien Leblanc
Milos Janicic
Noah Gugnon strangled and submitted his opponent, Milos Janicic, not even 90 seconds into the first round of their fight to kick of the main card. Both fighters were making their promotional debut, so Janicic is the one walking away at 0-1.
Janicic’s next fight with the UFC should be against Damian Rzepecki. This is a matchup that was featured in a previous losers article. Damian picked up the first loss of his pro career last weekend as he lost Magomed Zaynukov in what was also his debut. These two fighters have now both have one loss and are on basically the same time schedule. Decent matchup to consider booking.
Janicic’s next fight: Damian Rzepecki
