3 weeks ago
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ALEKSANDAR RAKIC has dismissed fan fears over his knee ahead of his return from a horror injury.
The Austrian assassin makes his first outing in nearly TWO YEARS early on Sunday morning against Jiri Prochazka on a stacked UFC 300 card in Las Vegas.
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The Austrian hasn’t fought since tearing his right ACL nearly two years agoGETTY
GETTYRakic, 32, blew out his ACL in his right knee in the third round of his clash with former light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz in May 2022.
But he insists recoveries from previous injuries have given him all the confidence that his knee will hold out when he throws down with Prochazka in the featured prelim of the night.
“To be honest, it was not my first knee injury,” Rakic revealed in an exclusive interview with SunSport. “I had two knee injuries before the UFC.
“And I was able to get back on track and get better every time I injured myself.
“So you can expect a better version of Aleksandar Rakic.
“These two years that I took off didn’t feel like two years. It felt like just a couple of months.
“But I improved all my skills and I trained really hard and I recovered pretty good.
“And in my head, I’m ready to go. I can trust 150 per cent in my knee.
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“I had an amazing camp and there are no doubts about anything with my knee or anything like that. I’ve recovered and I’m ready to go.”
Former 205lbs king Prochazka accused Rakic of disrespecting the flag of his homeland – the Czech Republic – in the build-up to their Sin City showdown.
But Rakic insists his disrespect was aimed solely at Prochazka and not his country.
He said: “That’s what he understands and he doesn’t understand many things in his life. So he can think what he wants.
“I never said something straight to the country or the flag of the Czech Republic.
“I said something about him and he took it like, ‘Oh, you’re attacking my country and my nation.’
“But no, I was attacking him and not his nation. So he made a big deal of this and went viral on the internet.
“And you know how this works, the internet is so fast that everything – including wrong information – spreads out.
“I don’t even go through this anymore because I know what I said and I know how I meant it. And if he thinks otherwise, I don’t care.”
Rakic finds himself sitting pretty in fifth place in the stacked light-heavyweight rankings, which will likely experience some movement after champion Alex Pereira defends his belt against Jamahal Hill in the final fight of the night.
GETTYGiven the landscape of the division, Rakic could very well be auditioning for a crack at the winner of UFC 300’s showpiece bout.
And that fact isn’t lost on the ‘Rocket’, who said: “It’s an amazing fight. I was supposed to fight Jan in Toronto but then he cancelled
“And afterwards, I only had one name in my head. And that was Jiri Prochazka.
“We were supposed to fight earlier in our careers. I was clear with the UFC with what I wanted and he wanted it too. So it’s a perfect match-up.”
He added: “[A title shot] depends on how the fight goes, how the performance is going to be and how the victory is going to be.
“If it’s a nice finish or a very good performance, I will be right there as a title contender.”
Rakic knows he faces a tough task ahead of him in fan favourite Prochazka but believes he has the skill set to emerge from their desert dust-up victorious.
He said: “He’s [Prochazka] coming off a loss and he’ll be motivated for sure. He has an awkward style, a very unorthodox style.
“But I’ve had enough time to prepare for him and his style. I just have to be calm and be focused and not fall into his traps and just do what I’ve done the last seven weeks and I’m gonna win.
“It doesn’t matter how I win, it’s just important that I win. If the knockout happens, it happens. If the submission happens, it happens.
“I see myself as a more well-rounded fighter than Jiri Prochazka and you’ll all figure this out on Saturday.”
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