Aleksandar Rakic talks UFC 259 fight vs. Thiago Santos, training with hero Mirko Cro Cop | ESPN MMA
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- Опубліковано 21 лип 2024
- Stream UFC 259 on ESPN+
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Aleksandar Rakic makes his debut on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show to preview his light heavyweight fight vs. Thiago Santos at UFC 259.
0:00 Rakic discusses why he’ll be wearing the Serbian flag on Saturday while still recognizing his fans in Austria.
6:04 Looks back at losing his first MMA fight and discusses the athletes he looked up to growing up.
9:02 What it was like to train with Mirko Cro Cop.
13:56 Rakic explains the limited amount of training he and Santos have had together.
15:18 What he expects from Santos, who is coming off a loss to Glover Teixeira.
17:17 Rakic breaks down Jan Blachowicz vs. Israel Adesanya and what he hopes is next for him with a victory.
#UFC259 #UFC #ESPNMMA
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Ariel Helwani, you're taking everything that Marko Petrak worked for
AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Petrak is the balkan Ariel Helwani.
Oplakao sam. 😂
Ariel must interview croatian G.O.A.T. Vedran “sok-sak” Badjun and ask him little bit about crazy elbow technique
@@nemojsamnomdajedesgovna3884 The best elbows ever the sok sak come from all directions that's what makes them so dangerous.
People don't understand, when you look, how good actually Rakic is, he is huuuuuge
🦎
Na kojoj minuti udara krušku?
🦎
Placem 😂😂😂
@@saramar.4422 Placem...is that Romanian word?
Srećno Raketa! Volimo te i molimo se za tebe!❤️🇷🇸
this fight is flying under the radar
BIG TIME, this card is so stacked.
For sure! A war of two meaty contenders at the top - and very few people talk about it!
So is Aljo vs Yan, the casuals only like Izzy and Amanda lol
it really shouldn’t !
This could honestly be a headliner of a Fight Night
A UFC in Belgrade would sell out for sure with Rakic and Medic on the card .
@Let me offer you this He's Croatian UFC did an event in Zagreb I don't think he was on the card .
That would be sick
@@bilic8094 Ngannou vs Blaydes was on that card
@@bilic8094 Bcs UFC wont put Stipe on some fight night. He is only fighitng on big events, bcs he is a champion.
And todorovic
I was in the arena when he knocked Manuwa out with that head kick. Craziest thing I’ve ever seen only wish Manuwa’s wife and daughter weren’t there. But big up Rakic he’s the dark horse
I can only imagine the fear of a child seeing her dad get knocked out cold
Manuwa shouldn't have been fighting anymore.
Same. I was sp scared for Manuwa, he was out for an uncomfortably long time
Rakić later went backstage after the fight to see if Jimi is OK and comforted his daughter. He was really emotional when he was speaking about that. Not sure how old is Jimi's daughter, but I can't imagine how can a huge man who almost took your father's head off comfort you.
I like Jiri too
Novi prvak i odličan čovjek,pozdrav iz Hrvatske.Sve najbolje ti želim!!
Nekada smo navijali svi za Cro Copa, danas trebamo svi za Rakica.
Mi smo SVI NASI.
Ziveo buraz, pozdrav iz Srbije!
@@user-gy5qi6kt7x Slažem se buraz u svemu šta si rekao,pozdrav iz Hrvatske!🤝
@@darioklescic6087 ziveo ti meni 100 godina 🤝
@@user-gy5qi6kt7x Također buraz barem 100...🤝
Fino je znati da ima još zdravih ljudi u ovim našim zemljama . Sve najbolje momci .
thank you for interviewing finaly the Killer Rakic!
He needs more coverage
“Right leg hospital, left leg cemetery” Aleksandar Rakic
thats Cro Cop
@@user-lv2zn9ud8g but He’s also Serbian?
@@SSFFRRJJ He is from Croatia, but you can tell he is Serbian, a catolic one. :)
@@user-lv2zn9ud8g hahahahah ma najbolje da kazete da su svi iz srbije
@@SSFFRRJJ Cro Cop is Croat but his deceased father was Serb.
Rakic !! Polish fans are with You💪
@Tnt B thank You
Let's hope luck will be with both warriors 💪🤜🤛
Slav power
@@Winergy2012 Slavic Brothers from a diferent Mothers 🤜🤛💪
@@niedzwiadekbks5400 Serbowie są Wam wdzięczni za każde wsparcie, jakiego nam udzielacie, a którego nasz rząd nie pozwala nam zobaczyć, ale wciąż się dowiadujemy. Chwała Polskim, braciom wojownikom!
@@breal3660 Ja kocham Balkany !! Jstem tam co roku kocham tych ludzi !!!
Polscy kibice zawsze beda dla Was BRACMI !!!!
SLAVIC LIVES MATTERS
My prediction is that Rakic is going to win this one, maybe even in a brutal fashion. Santos is playing with fire here.
Good thing he walks around with sledgehammers for fists
The leg kicks are going to be key for Rakic.
What's also interesting is Rakic is the lower ranked fighter but the favorite on the betting lines I don't know what to really make of it.
Santos hammer fists vs Rakic's iron legs, will be an interesting fight.
Be good to see if thiago shows up
Thiago santos wins by knockout but
If he gets taken down, he’ll loose the fight..
Santos round 2 KO
There should be a good fight if nobody gets hurt I feel like Thiago’s knee is not fully recovered but we will see I think Alexander is a beast man
@@theboogieman401 True, one of his trainers said that Alex doesnt hit low kicks full power on trainings, since even over the pads it is too much power.
Rakic is so charming man , hope he wins the fight
Greetings to India from Serbia! :)
One of the most underrated fighters in the UFC. These Europeans are scary and in the rise!
I agree bro. The future of MMA is looking very healthy
Honestly I would think the future of MMA would be full of wimps but they are looking like killers!
He has 1 good win & it was a boring decision vs Anthony smith. I expect another boring decision if he wins
@@wisdomincoming12 change your name to wisdom isn't coming
@@majmunovski He has decent leg kicks though
Serbia got Rakic (future LHW champ) and croatia got Miocic (heavyweight champ). Balkan mentality wins! Dana bring us some crazy event over here!!
Miocic is American
@@MichiganJFrog. If both of your parents immigrated from Croatia to USA and you're born in the USA, you're only American on paper. That's not how your "roots" work.
@@burekskremicem everyone in USA is an immigrant then
@@zeeshanjafri2418 Well that's how America was literally formed. But generally you don't count someone born from immigrant parents an American first, just because he was born in it. Only if 2 people who were born in the USA or at least 1 have a kid, then it can be categorized as an American.
@@burekskremicem first generation immigrants are still americans. America is all miocic has ever known and he reps ohio way more than he's ever represented croatia.
Rakic wrestles Thiago the whole fight and takes a decision this dude is so well rounded
It's hard to say where this fight goes stand up or to the ground .
@@bilic8094 I think rakic will do what he did to Anthony I think that’s good sample of where this fight is gonna go because while both are dangerous on the fight I might give the edge to santos in that remark
@@ryanjones1109 I think your right Santos has heavier hands while Rakic heavier leg kicks it will definitely be fireworks.
@@bilic8094 fan of both fighters so either of them winning is fine with me but rakic finally getting his chance to get to that title
Nah. He lacks experience. Either way this guy will find a way to make it boring
I hope he wins against Santos. Rakic vs Izzy/Jan could be really interesting
Rajiv isn’t the #1 contender, it is teixiera
@@xftbllplyr2091 I know but I think both Izzy and Jan would beat teixiera
@@PaulieWalnuts88 Don’t count out my boy Glover like that
@@PaulieWalnuts88 you dont know glover if you think he doesn't give both jan and izzy a run for their money
@@PaulieWalnuts88 Man , I really think Glover will kills adesanya if they fought
the man is a zombie he gets hurt almost every fight by bigger stronger guys , you saw how he took thiago down so easily like he is a 185lb fighter (thiago)
adesanya take down defense will mean nothing againts him and he is heavy .
Idemo! 🇷🇸 🚀
Good guy rakic. Very humble and great fighter, let's go and take the win, will be a great fight ❤️❤️🙏
Rakic for the win support from Greece to our Orthodox brothers 🇷🇸🇬🇷
@El Nino Brown lets go brothers
Rakic echt schade das wir dich leider in österreich nicht richtig unterstütz haben eine schande 😢 freu mich echt schon auf sonntag und dein fight pünktlich um 4 uhr früh wird zugeschaut schöne grüsse aus wien 🔥
🇷🇸🚀
Jawoi! Gonz Wien steht hinter dir 👊
Deutschland genauso!
@@detony6758 шта је ово, ракета нека? 😀 не видим добро, ситан знак
Ja in österreich ist mma leider nicht so gross. Ich freu mich aber auch schon volle! Aus Innsbruck
A gde su pitanja sa Patreona?
Idemo raketa! Best of luck
Hey im from austria! There may be not that much mma fans in our country but those we have are all die hard fans!!! AUSTRIA lets go
ASK HIM ABOUT STOŠIĆ
Idemo Balkan brother! Samo naprijed! YugoslAvia, a ne slevia hahah...
Ariel Helwani se ispricava Aleksu jer ga nije prije intervjuirao IDEMOOOO FAMILIJOOO NEMA LABAVO 💪💪💪💪
Da da video sam.Stvarno ste familija ili ti to samo onako zbog prezimena?!
Aleskandar Rakic and Jiri Prochazka are some interesting dudes.
Lhw is europes division
@@curvetopbins852 even Stipe is another Balkan guy
Rakic and Prochazka fight was planned, but Rakic turned Prochazka down. He said, he wont fight dudes below him in the rankings. Fun fact: Rakic is no. 4 and Prcohazka no.5
Yeah, and Santos will be his first REAL test. Do you know how many fights dost Jiri has? 31 fights at age 28. From that 31 fights, he has won 27 times and from that 27 wins, he 24 times put down his opponents. Do you know how scary this is? He has like 12 win streak and 9 knockout stream. The only reason he hasn"t finished Volkan in first round is he was showboating for fans.
Also after Rakic pussied out from this fight, Jiri tried to find some fighter to fight him, he even offered himself to fight Krylov, after Krylovs opponent got out, and he also didnt want to fight him. And Krylov is no. 8, he didnt have anything to lose.
And the most hillarious fact is: Rakic was offered the Reyes fight in February, but he didnt want to train mid-Christmas, so he refused. Then Reyes was offered to Jiri and he accepted right away. Rakic"s trainer then moaned about how Jiri doesnt deserve the fight and UFC treat Rakic badly
How fighter is built is irrelevant, and why I said this will be his first real test, you can win 100 fights, but unless you win against the best, you wont be the best. And I'm sorry, but Smith, Manuwa aint the best. Smith once was one of the best, but not anymore. And Jiri has beaten very best fighters, among other Nemkov, Bellator champ, who refused to go to round 2 with him. And I agree that Rakic is looking very good right now. If he beats Santos, I will only aplaud him.
Thanks for interviewing him, Ariel. Love this guy. Hopefully we see a post fight interview on here again!
Sretno Raketa! Sve najbolje u subotu 💪👊
Our brother the future champ of the UFC, guys pin my words.. IDEMOOOOOOO BREEEEE 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸🚀🚀🚀💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻
Dude is it just me or is he trying to avoid to mention bosnia? He's always talking about Zagreb and Beograd only. Even tho his parents are from bosnia.
@@jovanjovanovic7835 yes I know mate. But my point is we still neighbors and why do mention everyone expect the bosnians? 😂 I'm just asking if it's me or does anyone else sees this
@@bigbaba340 he is not Bosnian, he is from Republika Srpska, its Serbian state in Bosnia, so he does not mentioning Bosnia because people will connect that with Muslim people, but thats not the point. He is ortodox Serbian, from Serbian mom and Serbian dad, and thats everything you need to know :) So he is mentioning Belgrade because its the capital city of Serbia and he is mentioning Zagreb because he goes there for training camp :)
@@wewillnotbebroken we'll if you're from the Serbian Republic you're Bosnian too? 😂 It's literally in bosnia. It's like saying 'I'm from Texas but I'm not American' 😂 doesn't make any sense. We're in 2021 and not 1500. Being from a country doesn't make you bonded to a religion. I'm pretty sure there are non orthodox people from belgrad too. Such as atheist or whatever. Be more open minded dude.
@@bigbaba340 He is Serbian. Same way that Khabib is Dagestani, end of discussion.
Идемо! 🇷🇸
It's rocket time baby! 🇷🇸
Raketa 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀
Rakic sounds like a good guy. Tough spot with the flag situation but I'd also rather represent the region that supports me the most. Ariel always a pro, great interview 🍻
Ask him about Stošić. 🤣🤣
Rakiću, ako pokažeš istu srčanost i snazu kao protiv Smifa pobjeda ti je zagarantirana!
Sretno ratniče!
Finally an Interview with him. Future CHAMP!
TEAM RAKIC BRATE 🚀🇷🇸♥️
Lets goo my Orthodox Brother🇷🇸☦🇬🇷🚀
Ariel we have been waiting for this :)
Ey thanks for interviewing him Ariel helping get our guy the exposure he needs.
Rakicu legendo nasa, zelim ti da sto pre dodjes do pojasa i oboris sve rekorde u UFCu, ja nikada u zivotu nisam video zivotinju kao tebe( u pozitivnom smislu), imas sve predispozicije da budes najbolji, samo veruj u sebe, daj sve od sebe i moli se Ocu nasem !
AJMO RAKETAAA !!!!!
Best fighter ever lived on this planet is Vedran Bađun aka "Vedran Lažun" aka "Bili šaman" aka " rozi kiboko" aka " Simba Mzungu" he never lost a fight in 28 years, he is champ in this world and beyond 🔥🐷
Can't forget the legendary "sok sak" elbow tehnique, he could easily knock out ngannou with that devastating strike😂
Thank you Ariel Austrian MMA needs you to grow .
All the best to Aleksander Rakic .
All the best to Ariel
From Vienna 😬
Ajmo brateeeee
Di smo balkanci 🇭🇷🇭🇷
He’s gonna destroy Thiago on the ground. Glover exposed a large vulnerability
Yes. Santos himself is leg kicker and he did not use that against Glover. Maybe he uses it now.
@@smalam64 he didn’t use leg kicks because he still has anxiety about injuring them.
@@305MMA_ exactly so maybe if he uses his leg kicks as he did against Jones, he may get a different result
Rakic and Santos. two very nice guys
Aleksa javi se Petraku,dođi doma 🙌
Opet se srecemo
let's go rakic! his head kick KO against manuwa made me a fan
Imagine a fight between Aleksandar Rakic and Jiri Prochazka. That would be massive for the Austria, Czech Republic and Balkan region, not to mention that it would be an incredible fight 🔥
This guy is a beast!!!
Raketa, vozdovac je uz tebe! Samo napred majstore!👊
Ask him about Stosic!
Alex, probably I am one of your biggest fan, much love & respect from Turkey! I hope you smash Santos.. Goodluck!!
Nobody can stop him!!!! Extremely fast, iron power and condition and mentally very strong!! Aleks has everything to be a Champ!!! And he will!
Good luck bro! 👊 Do it for the Eurogang
Srećno večeras matori!!!
Lets gooo Rakicccc 🚀🚀🚀
great interview
So a nice guy! Alles Gute für Samstag Aleks.. 🙏❤️
Idemoo !!! Raketa
Finally got the interview this beast deserves!!
Let's go Rakic! This whole card is insane, with a good performance Aleksandar could fight for a title sooner than later!
Ovo je buduci sampion. Idemo Rakic
Size wise, the biggest LHW. Dude looks like a monster. I think he won against Ozdemier. Got robbed by judges.
Johnny Walker is bigger.
Every MMA media outlet also thought so, just like Dana White. Did you see Volkan's face lol
Ozdemier was owed one because he got robbed against dominick reyes
@@donovans6472 haha yes that's true he was owed one but poor guy Rakic had to pay the price.
@@ettorebugatti9354 bigger but softer to
Didin't knew a lot about him but he look's like a good guy. Hard to root against Santos tho. Let the best man win
🇷🇸🚀🔝👑
Event in Belgrade would be amazing. One of the best events for Sure. Rakic, Stipe, Medic, Camur and Todorovic should be on the card .
Let’s go baby 🇷🇸❤️💪🏻 Rakić and Medić wish u all the best boys
IDEMOO RAKETAAA !!!
Amazing interview
RAKIC🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸🚀🚀🚀
Ariel, if you need help with furniture moving Rakic can hook you up. He knows a guy in Mirko’s gym.
🇦🇹 supports you and the sport. At least I do!
Samo jako Alex!!
I love Rakic. He should have been next for a title shot though.
12:21 YESSSSIIRRRR
Smart fighter
Rakic gave a great say on how Adesanya can win and how Jan can win. Also talked about not counting out Polish power
This fight is going to be nuts. I didn’t even know it was on the card!
Gonna be a BANGER boyyyyyyyy!!!!
Alex the next light heavyweight champion!
This is mostly true. He will be champ but Izzy could get it next and so could Glover.
Very possibly! Great talant
PROCHAZKA UFC CHAMPION 2021!
@@mickeymomighty5660 He's a great fighter but every single fight I watched with him he's always in serious trouble at some point in the fight and finds a way to win Volkan had him dancing in the first round but couldn't finish him and jiri came back to win.
@@YourMMAfriend can't wait to see his next fight
LET'S GO CHAMP!!!!
ottakringer straaaaßee heute machma party jugobeats bruda pumpen aus den boxen!
IDEMO RAKIC
let's G0 !
IDEMO Brate !
He is Rocket Bosnian Serb living in Austria he is all but first one he is man he is all what Young kids want to be !!!! Brateee sretnoooo
Ask him about Marko Petrak
Great kid...Good luck Rakic!
Idemooo Raketa!! Do titule breee 🚀😎 Srbija je uz tebe legendo!!! 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
Aleksander Rakic IS the Big MMA Star from that region. Heck, heaps of us in Melb, AUS have had this cat on the rader for hot minute
Can't wait when Rakic and Prochazka fight down the line
Both really exciting prospects. If Rakic beats Santos and Jiri beats Reyes maybe they can do Rakic vs Jiri winner gets a title shot.
Then We could see Santos vs Reyes I'd like to see that. Ankalaev vs Oezdemir Krylov vs Smith/Crute Winner
Rakic and Prochazka fight was planned, but Rakic turned Prochazka down. He said, he wont fight dudes below him in the rankings. Fun fact: Rakic is no. 4 and Prochazka no.5
best wishes for Rakic in fight against Santos, hopefully win!
Real champion great example of the men and the fighter
This is gonna be FIIIYYYAAHHH 🔥🔥🔥
My countryman will win and I think will be a hard K'O,I think he throw Santos to big dream 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸 rocket and respect to Santos
Idemo legendo!!!!!!!!!!!
Let's go! 🚀🚀