Belgrade, Serbia hosts its first UFC Fight Night with the headline fight being local fighter Uros Medic taking on American mixed martial artist Daniel Rodriguez.
The fight slate offers a full house of rabid Serbian fans thirteen bouts populated with a highly international set of athletes arriving from some seventeen countries. Twelve local/regional athletes will have the honor of fighting in front of a crowd that is looking for violence.
Unfortunately, and similar to last week, nine of the thirteen bouts on this card are lined with the favorite -250 or higher! I will be measured in releases with this card.
Last week Mike Davis got out wrestled by a dynamically equipped wrestler however, Nurullo Aliev, the wrestler who defeated Davis put absolutely no damage on him nor did he try to ‘fight.’ He wrestled.
The second release was for the ‘main event to start round 2’ -250 which was a winner. I tied that side to MacKenzie Dern -198, Dern competes in UFC 330 August 15th against Canadian Gillian Robertson. That parlay pays +110 should it come to fruition, and I believe that’s in fact what will transpire.
On to Belgrade!
Uros Medic -365 vs. Daniel Rodriguez +300 Welterweight (170lbs.) Main event
Thirteenth ranked welterweight Daniel Rodriguez is a street fighting man.
Groomed for fighting in the streets of Los Angeles and it’s prison system, ‘DRod’ as he is called, has no fear…. of anything.
He’s competed in three separate divisions in mixed martial arts and as a welterweight in the UFC he’s accrued a 10-4 record against pedigreed, worthy talent.
Rodriguez is a purple belt in BJJ but grappling aside, DRod wants to kick, punch, elbow and knee his way into finishing opponents. Four of DRod’s ten victories in the UFC have come via finish.
Rodriguez will own a three inch reach advantage, and the southpaw is six years the elder athlete in this fight at the ripe age of thirty-nine.
One aspect of this confrontation is that in July of 2025 Rodriguez was scheduled to fight however he was in Mexico and was forced to spend several months in prison.
The lack of appropriate training, the lack of substantial nutrition and the time spent there had to have taken it’s toll on a thirty-nine year old athlete. It is fair to wonder how Rodriguez will respond to the intensity of a UFC battle even after having some time (perhaps not appropriate time) to recover and restore his fighting physique and mentality appropriately.
Uros Medic is fourteenth ranked in the division. After his last victory, he made the call out for a UFC event to be held in Serbia, and the UFC granted that wish.
Medic, a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and an orange belt in Judo sports an 8-3 tally in UFC competition. He competed against worthy competition and enters this bout off an impressive finish of Texan Goeff Neal.
Medic is also a southpaw, so both of these guys being left handed scrappers will add a degree of oddity to this fight as two lefties competing against one another is relatively uncommon and it sets up to be potentially an awkward fight.
Once this bout starts, look for the forward pressure of Medic to clash immediately with the frenetic pace that Rodriguez wants to impose upon the native Serbian. Like two male rams clashing on the side of the mountain, these two fighters will each take the fight directly to the other with the sole purpose of leaving the other quivering on the canvass.
Medic’s six year age advantage must be considered as well the fact he fights at home against an American that must make the trip into Serbia then prepare his body and mind for the weight cut and finally the competition.
As is often the case, the UFC chose Medic’s opponent carefully and with the express interest of offering Medic a fighter he can handle as well one he may finish in order to stir excitement into the Serbian crowd.
Medic, by the way, has had his last five bouts (4-1 record) end in the first round.
Tough spot for DRod.
Total in this fight: 1.5Rds Under -200
Strong lean over
Vlasto Cepo -280 vs. Gil Urbina +235 Middleweight (185lbs)
With another chalk laden fight slate we’ll take to the parlay position as we did last week.
In this fight the ‘subject’ is American fighter Gil Urbina who is 1-3 in UFC competition. Urbina holds advantages in UFC experience and height and is a very active striker who lands 5.57 significant strikes per minute while accepting 4.65.
Urbina does offer some wrestling aptitude and is able to execute the take down however his strength, his strike defense and his suspect chin make him an easy mark for a local debuting power striker.
In Cepo we get the aforementioned pumped up power striker.
Cepo is able to compete in front of his home countrymen for this debut and against a target in Urbina who has been knocked out by the middle of the second round in three of his last four bouts.
This fight is designed to offer the Serbian fans a local fighter who is in position to shine and should perform as expected against a fighter in Urbina who is game and willing, but who is also ill equipped to fend of the force from this Serbian slugger.
Parlay time:
Cepo -280 to MacKenzie Dern -198
(Derm fights Gillian Robertson on UFC 330 August 15) +104
Please note: This column holds Dern -198 as the second leg of a parlay (Ankalaev/Guskov starts round 2) from last week’s column which pays +110. Clearly I favor Ms. Dern in her bout against the Canadian Robertson.
Friday late morning the ‘Bout Business Podcast drops. Catch all my final releases for this card there.
Thank you for reading and enjoy the fights!
