Aleksandar Rakic claims UFC wanted him to fight fellow light heavyweight contender Jiri Prochazka for the No. 1 contender spot at 205 pounds, but “Denisa” passed on the booking in hopes of scoring the first crack at newly-crowned division champion Glover Teixeira.
That sent Rakic into battle opposite former champion Jan Blachowicz in March.
“I got Jan Blachowicz for the next opponent, he’s a former champion, he’s No. 1 ranked so he’s a great matchup,” Rakic told MMA Junkie. “He’s a great martial artist, and I’m happy to get this fight and fight against one of the best in the world. About Jiri, I cannot take this clown seriously you know. I don’t care about him. My focus is on Jan Blachowicz and on March 26 and I don’t care about this guy.”
The 29 year-old Rakic (14-2) is coming off back-to-back wins over former title contenders Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos. As for Prochazka, 28, he made his UFC debut with a knockout victory over Volkan Oezdemir before moving on to wreck Dominick Reyes.
“Denisa” stands at 28-3-1 with 25 knockouts.
“For sure I’m going to fight him in the future,” Rakic continued. “We are both young, we are at the top of the division. He’s going to probably fight against Glover. I still don’t know when they’re going to fight – I don’t care basically, but for sure we’re going to fight someday. But now I close the book with this guy. I don’t care about him and this fake samurai shit that he’s doing and just focusing on Jan Blachowicz. My goal is to stay active and this was not so possible this year, but finally I got the opportunity to fight again and that’s for the No. 1 contender to fight next for the belt.”
A date for Teixeira vs. Prochazka has yet to be determined.