Aleksandar Rakic reveals staph infection impacted his performance at UFC 300: “It obviously affected me”

Aleksandar Rakic reveals he had staph infection leading into his UFC 300 fight against Jiri Prochazka.

Rakic was ending his nearly two-year layoff at UFC 300 as he was facing the former champ in Prochazka in a crucial fight for the light heavyweight division. Ultimately, it was Prochazka who won by second-round TKO as he had Rakic hurt and swarmed him until the ref stopped the fight.

Following the loss, Aleksandar Rakic took to his YouTube channel to reveal he was dealing with staph infection which impacted his performance.

🚨 Aleksandar Rakic reveals he was dealing with a staph infection on his elbow in the week leading up to #UFC300:

“[It was] Wednesday/Thursday when the elbow got infected… I was really in pain on Wednesday. I was really afraid that the doctor from the UFC would cancel my fight.… pic.twitter.com/EfWXcCTwHv

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) April 15, 2024

“[It was] Wednesday/Thursday when the elbow got infected… I was really in pain on Wednesday. I was really afraid that the doctor from the UFC would cancel my fight. I was given very strong antibiotics. Friday evening when we trained I felt a little different than last time. A few times I got tired quicker… on Saturday I started to feel that my legs were getting tired a little quicker than normal. Congratulations to Jiri, and I really don’t want to say that the infection was an excuse, but it obviously affected me a bit and that I can’t 100% exploit my full potential,” Rakic said.

According to Rakic, the plan was to push the pace in the second round and try and drown Prochazka. However, due to the staph, he says his cardio and legs started to go, which didn’t allow him to implement his game plan.

With the loss, Aleksandar Rakic fell to 14-4 as a pro and is now on a two-fight losing skid. Before the loss to Prochazka at UFC 300, he tore his ACL in the third round of his main event fight against Jan Blachowicz. The loss to Blachowicz snapped his two-fight winning streak as he beat Thiago Santos and Volkan Oezdemir by decision. Rakic is 6-3 in the UFC and also holds wins over Jimi Manuwa and Devin Clark.