The UFC's first-ever visit to Serbia will be remembered as one of the most violent nights in the promotion's history, and it ended exactly as the sold-out Belgrade Arena crowd wanted it to: with hometown favourite Uroš Medić flattening Daniel Rodriguez inside 30 seconds.
Medić needed barely half a minute to close the show in Saturday's main event, dropping Rodriguez with punches for a TKO that capped a card built almost entirely on early finishes rather than decisions.
It was the exclamation point on a historic evening for Serbian combat sports. The Belgrade Arena show marked the UFC's debut in the country, and the promotion confirmed the card set new records for both the most first-round finishes (ten) and the most total finishes (twelve) in a single UFC event.
The co-main event was almost as brutal. New Zealand's Navajo Stirling needed just 2:56 of the first round to stop former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Błachowicz with a barrage of elbows and punches on the ground, extending his own unbeaten professional record to 11-0.
Serbia's fighters had a rocky start to the main card before Medić's finale. Duško Todorović, Vlasto Čepo and Miloš Janičić — all fighting in front of their home fans — went a combined 0-3, with Robert Valentin submitting Todorović via guillotine choke at 4:14 of round one, Gilbert Urbina stopping Čepo with strikes in just 1:01, and Noah Gugnon tapping out Janičić with a rear-naked choke at 1:21.
The home losing run was snapped by Aleksandar Rakić, the Austrian-born fighter of Serbian descent who was making his heavyweight debut after four years struggling at 205lbs. Rakić out-worked veteran Marcin Tybura for a clean unanimous decision, sweeping all three scorecards 30-27 to get his hand raised for the first time since March 2021.
By the time Medić stepped in for the headline bout, the Belgrade crowd had already witnessed nine finishes across the undercard and main card, and the Serbian welterweight duly delivered the loudest one — ending Rodriguez's night with a first-round knockout that sent the arena into raptures.
The result is a landmark moment for MMA in the Balkans: the UFC had never staged a show in Serbia before this weekend, and the reception at Belgrade Arena, allied to the sheer volume of finishes, is likely to put the country firmly on the promotion's list for a return visit.
