{"id":24512,"date":"2026-08-01T20:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=24512"},"modified":"2026-08-01T20:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:36:18","slug":"aleksandar-rakic-refueled-rocket-ready-to-take-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=24512","title":{"rendered":"Aleksandar Raki\u0107 | Refueled \u2018Rocket\u2019 Ready To Take Off"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m cutting weight already 20 years,\u201d began Aleksandar Raki\u0107, the long-tenured light heavyweight who makes the shift to the heavyweight division this weekend in a bout with divisional mainstay Marcin Tybura as part of Saturday\u2019s UFC Fight Night main card at Belgrade Arena. \u201cI started with kickboxing at 14, and even at that time, I was cutting one, two kilos. Year by year, I\u2019m growing, becoming heavier. The last cuts were 38, 39 pounds in total.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m pretty good at cutting weight, but still, the body remembers that and after every weight cut, I need another two months to recover from the weight cut,\u201d continued the 34-year-old, explaining the main reason for his relocating to heavyweight. \u201cI worked with the doctors and they told me, \u2018It\u2019s not the healthiest cutting weight anymore because you want to have a life after the career.\u2019 And let\u2019s be honest: I am not a small guy.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ufc.ac\/4uWtKjZ\"><strong>Watch This &amp; Every UFC Event On Paramount+<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was a big light heavyweight, I have the height, I have the reach, I have the weight, and I don\u2019t have any issue with my strength. I just have benefits of my speed, my explosiveness, my agility, so I just see benefits moving up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd I\u2019m enjoying Fight Week finally!\u201d he added with a laugh. \u201cI\u2019m enjoying every second! I eat what I want. I can drink when I want. I go to training full of energy. I\u2019m enjoying every second of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There has been a wave of talent from the light heavyweight division testing the waters at heavyweight of late, including two-time champion Alex Pereira, and everyone approaches the shift differently.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI\u2019m cutting weight already 20 years,\u201d began Aleksandar Raki\u0107, the long-tenured light heavyweight who makes the shift to the heavyweight division this weekend in a bout with divisional mainstay Marcin Tybura as part of Saturday\u2019s UFC Fight Night main card at Belgrade Arena. \u201cI started with kickboxing at 14, and even at that time, I&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ufc.com\/images\/styles\/card\/s3\/2026-07\/Aleksandar-Rakic-Hero-.jpg?itok=UTEu0Imb","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}