Uros Medic pulled off one of the biggest wins of his UFC career in Serbia earlier this month, but the celebration came at a pretty steep cost. ‘The Doctor’ stopped Daniel Rodriguez in just 30 seconds in the main event of UFC Belgrade, extending his winning streak to four fights in front of a loud home crowd. However, what nobody knew at the time was that Medic had suffered a significant knee injury just days before stepping into the Octagon.

The Serbian revealed in a recent interview with MMA Junkie that the injury happened during a routine warm-up on the Monday of fight week, when his knee suddenly popped out of position.

“Honestly, we were just warming up, and my knee popped out of place and was like, ‘Whoa, what is this,'” he said. “I tried to straighten my leg out, and it popped back in.

“Straight away I started to fill with liquid and started to swell. I’m like, ‘What the f— is happening?'”

Uros Medic immediately went to the UFC Performance Institute to have the injury evaluated. And while thankfully his ACL remained intact, the doctors believed he had sustained a meniscus tear.

That was undoubtedly a concerning development just days before one of the most important fights of his career, that too as a headliner in front of his home crowd in Serbia.

“It scared me; it scared everybody,” Medic admitted. “We were just sitting there like, ‘Guys, listen, we’re going into this fight even if it means with one leg. I’m going to fight this fight. I’ve gone to hell and back to return to my country, and I’m going in there.’

“They really helped me. It was just amazing. I was able to get back on my feet. I went into the fight week limping, and I was just begging God to not let people see me limping, because I knew it was going to come out in the news right away. That’s just going to give my opponent wind on his back. For me to be able to weather this week—this week was the fight. The fight was routine work for me, that I do the best. But the week itself was one heck of a week.”

The injury also significantly changed Uros Medic’s fight preparation. He couldn’t train as he usually did, especially when it came to grappling. However, ‘The Doctor’ pointed to other fighters who have fought through some significant injuries as proof that this is just a part of the profession.

And the main example he cited was none other than light heavyweight champion Carlos Ulberg, who tore his ACL early in the first round of his title fight against Jiri Prochazka at UFC 327 in April. Despite being severely limited on one leg, Ulberg landed a sensational left hook that knocked out ‘Denisa’ and earned him the vacant UFC light heavyweight title.

“I’ve seen fighters with worse injuries and worse infections get through the fight week,” Medic continued. “Carlos Ulberg has just won the belt with a torn knee. This all comes with the territory.”

Despite the challenge, Uros Medić delivered a spectacular performance. The Serbian came out firing on Rodriguez, landing a three-punch combination that immediately rocked the veteran. A brutal follow-up knee sent ‘D-Rod’ crashing down, and the 33-year-old followed him to the canvas with a soccer kick to the body before unleashing a barrage of punches.

Only 30 seconds into the first round, the bout was stopped by the referee. Now, however, Medic has another challenge ahead of him. The doctors have told him that surgery is required to repair the knee; however, the procedure is supposed to be a very simple one.

“The doctor said that it needs a surgery,” he added. “But it’s one of those noninvasive ones that’s arthroscopic. It should be like a month recovery or something. I still need to get together with orthopaedic surgeon, because he wants to see me.

“I’m going to be back there on Monday, and I’ll probably do it as soon as possible so I can recover right away and get in there before the year is over. I should be able to. I think. But obviously step-by-step and day-by-day.”

For now, ‘The Doctor’ can look back on a win, a four-fight winning streak, and quite a memorable homecoming. And given everything he was up against before the fight, the 30-second demolition of Rodriguez becomes even more impressive.

And to make things more interesting, whatever doubts existed about Uros Medic’s place among the UFC’s elite disappeared pretty quickly in Serbia.

Uros Medic cracks the top 10 after UFC Belgrade masterclass

The win over Daniel Rodriguez was more than just a homecoming. It was the biggest performance of Uros Medic’s career, and the rankings reflected that almost immediately. ‘The Doctor’ jumped from No. 14 to No. 10 in the Meta Rankings after the win at UFC Belgrade.

That puts the 33-year-old one slot ahead of former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and only two spots behind Leon Edwards. Edwards was actually one of the names the Serbian called out after the victory, but it is worth noting that Uros Medic also has another dangerous contender in mind as well.

“I would love to cross paths with Carlos Prates at some point,” he told Full Send MMA before the fight. “That man is a true samurai warrior; he comes to fight, and he will die, you know. I think people would be surprised about how well I would do against him because I’m the type of fighter who meets fire with fire, and you’ve seen what happens when fighters back out from Carlos; he just knocks them out.

“If you’re gonna back out and be timid, he will finish you in the matter of minutes but I’m not the type of fighter that would back out, even if that means going out on my shield but I don’t think that would happen.”

Uros Medic’s timing, however, may not be perfect. Carlos Prates appears to be on track for a welterweight title shot after winning three straight fights, including a decisive victory over former champion Jack Della Maddalena at UFC Perth.

So, while ‘The Doctor’ may have to wait for that particular matchup, his most recent success has made one thing clear: the Serbian is now firmly in the conversation with the division’s top names. And he managed to get there while fighting on one very compromised knee.