Uros Medic expected chaos after knocking out Geoff Neal in Houston. What he didn’t expect was to be led backstage and given a phone with the President of the United States on the other end. One minute, he was celebrating his third consecutive knockout. The next moment, he was standing in a lounge behind a curtain, trying to process a surreal experience.

For weeks, the Serbian welterweight had quietly dealt with immigration issues. He’d highlighted it in his post-fight interview: the difficulty of getting home, the stalled paperwork, and the frustration of being stuck in limbo. It sounded like a plea thrown into the void. Instead, it set off a chain reaction that even he didn’t anticipate.

Uros Medic relives the surreal phone call with President Donald Trump

“I’m still blown away with everything that happened,” Medic told Michael Bisping. “I have asked for some help with immigration in my post-fight interview, as some people may have seen, and as soon as I got back to do the photos and interviews, they called me back to the office. It’s in the back, like where Dana was, and some other people, and Dana White turns on the speakerphone; he says, Mr. President, he’s right here.

“Mr. President just starts congratulating me, and he said it was a good fight. He said Neal is a tough cookie, and I just knocked him out. I could expect many things, but I would not expect to just have a word with him like that.”

When ‘The Doctor’ spoke about the call, you could tell he was clearly overcome with emotion. He felt proud and grateful all at once and made it clear how much love and respect he believes Serbians have for the President of the United States.

The 32-year-old even mentioned that the First Lady’s Slovenian roots hit close to home, as Slovenia and Serbia were once one country. Growing up, he always felt like she was one of their own because she spoke Serbian fluently. Then came the line that left him speechless.

“He said, ‘You are good to go wherever you need to travel. Your gates are open for you like they are for the President of the United States,” Uros Medic revealed. “And I’m like, I don’t even know what to say. Somebody needs to pinch me because I don’t know what to say. And I just said, Thank you, thank you so much.

“I said, ‘I’ll be ready for whatever you guys need me, whatever you need me, if it’s to be going to UFC Serbia, UFC White House, whatever.’ I’m all in.”

For a fighter who has flattened opponents with calm precision, this was different. This wasn’t adrenaline. It was disbelief. After 11 years of building a life in America, juggling work permits and paperwork, the relief was as powerful as any punch he’d thrown.

Now that his travel concerns appear to be resolved and his knockout streak is intact, Medic sounds lighter. A fighter who is now willing to deliver a spectacle by being a part of the White House card if Dana White wants someone who is clearly showing the qualities of a future contender at 170 pounds.

Medic emerges as a new favorite after UFC Houston win

The phone call may have changed his life outside the cage, but the left hook changed everything within it. Geoff Neal didn’t just lose in Houston; he collapsed. One clean shot to the temple as he exited an exchange, and it was over. No insane follow-up required.

Uros Medic remained there for a split second, nearly frozen, as the reality set in. This wasn’t just another knockout. It was a statement. After all, the path here was not smooth at all. A defeat against Jalin Turner at lightweight. Setbacks against Myktybek Orolbai and Punahele Soriano halted his climb to welterweight.

But since the Soriano defeat, ‘The Doctor’ has responded the right way by stopping Gilbert Urbina, Muslim Salikhov, and now Neal. Those are three consecutive finishes that leave little room for debate. The Salikhov stoppage foreshadowed what was to come—destroying a decorated striker with head kicks and a crushing left hand—but knocking out Neal in the co-main event felt different.

It felt like an arrival. The kind that inspires matchmakers to start looking at the numbers next to your name. At 170 pounds, where chaos prevails, and contenders rotate regularly, Uros Medic suddenly feels like a dark horse no one wants to face off against.