Aleksandar Rakic: Knee Injury Originally Occurred ‘3 Weeks Ago in Camp’

Aleksandar Rakic’s night ended in unfortunate fashion at UFC on ESPN 36, as a knee injury resulted in a third-round TKO defeat to Jan Blachowicz in Saturday’s headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

As it turns out, the injury was not completely unfamiliar to the American Top Team-trained Austrian, who revealed in a post-fight statement that it was a reoccurrence of something that had affected him during camp.

“A great battle took place in the Octagon tonight but unfortunately, it ended not the way Jan and I or the fans wanted,” Rakic wrote on Instagram. “The same damn injury from [three] weeks ago in camp showed up again tonight.”

Prior to the injury, Rakic felt that he deserved to be ahead on the scorecards in what was shaping up to be a competitive fight.

“I felt I won both rounds, round one being close but round two was just mine then I opened up really good even in the third before my knee buckled,” he wrote. “Knowing the fact that my cardio was off the chart (with a heartbeat at 36 in sleep) I would start to picking him apart from third round on but it is what it is. Congratulation to Jan and I wish him the best. I will take care of this injury and come back like you never seen me before. This is a unfinished fight between Jan and I and I really hope [UFC] gives me a REMATCH.”

It’s currently unclear how long Rakic will be sidelined as he recovers from the injury. The 30-year-old is 6-2 in the UFC, with notable wins against Thiago Santos, Anthony Smith and Jimi Manuwa.

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