When Aleksandar Rakic makes the walk to the Octagon this weekend to face off with Azamat Murzakanov in the UFC 321 main card opener at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, it will be one year less a day since he made the same trek at UFC 308, where he landed on the wrong side of the scorecards with then-contender, now former champion Magomed Ankalaev.
While he’s back in a familiar place this weekend, a lot has changed in the 364 days since the 33-year-old last stepped into the UFC cage.
“The last performance against Ankalaev was pretty good, but I talked to myself after the fight, I talked to my wife, who knows me the best, and I needed to make some changes to get one step closer to fighting for the title because that’s very important for me,” began Rakic, who parted ways with his former team and began training under longtime friend and former professional fighter Nemanja Milosevic in February of this year.