Athletes
Duško Todorović Is Refreshed, Recovered And Ready To Go
Serbian Middleweight Has Recovered From His Injury Nightmare And, Backed By A New Team, He’s Ready To Return To Form At The UFC APEX
Dusko Todorovic will look to mark a career milestone when he returns to action at UFC Fight Night: Blanchfield vs. Barber.
Serbia’s Todorovic will compete in his ninth UFC fight, but the 31-year-old from Belgrade is counting Saturday night’s appearance as his 10th bout in the Octagon, having earned his spot on the UFC roster via Dana White’s Contender Series.
“It's a nice little milestone,” he told UFC.com ahead of his upcoming bout with Zachary Reese.
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“If we include the Contender Series fight, this is fight number 10 in UFC. So yeah, it feels good to [build my] career here. It feels good just piling up those fights and giving good performances.”
Todorovic heads into Saturday’s bout knowing that victory is a must. His last two outings ended in first-round defeats. The first, against England’s Christian Leroy Duncan, came as a result of a knee injury that put him on the shelf for a year.
Then, after his planned return against Edmen Shahbazyan was scrapped due to another injury, Todorovic finally returned last November against Mansur Abdul-Malik. Unfortunately for “Thunder,” it ended in an opening round TKO defeat.
That defeat prompted Todorovic to make some big changes, as he explained.
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“I know the things I went through for that entire fight camp,” he said.
“Everything wasn’t going my way, and the fight wasn’t any different than that. Soafter that, I changed [things]. I have a new team. I opened up my own gym, I have a new coach and new guys to work with. This camp felt really good, and I believe it’s going to be a positive outcome this time.
“It’s hard getting to UFC, but it’s a lot harder to stay. So just being here forces you to keep moving, to keep developing and getting better with your skills. I would say that’s the number one thing.”
The new camp seems to have suited Todorovic well. He cut a happy, confident figure during his fight week interview, and said that he’s heading into his bout with Reese full of optimism.
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“I do believe I'm 100 percent right now,” he said.
“This camp went really good. As I said, I have a really positive feeling about the outcome and everything we've done, so it does feel a lot better than before.”
“Before” referred to a nightmare run of injuries that saw both knees require reconstructive surgery – one due to an in-fight injury against Duncan, the other due to being hit by a car.
Thankfully, Todorovic made a full recovery from both, and now feels like he’s in a better place mentally having gone through those testing times.
WATCH: Duško Todorović's Fight Week Interview
“It’s a bit strenuous on the mind,” he said.
“It’s tough to process all that and just walk through the process all over again. It was tough, but we pulled through, and I believe good things are coming now.
“Even for that [canceled] fight with Shahbazyan, where I spent part of the camp preparing before injury, I still tried to take something positive from that, and what I learned in that short span of time.
“Even when things don't go my way, I still try to see where I made the mistakes prior to that fight, prior to the injury, and we tried to fix it up so it doesn't happen again. I believe all those setbacks have made a positive impact on my future career.”
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Refreshed and reinvigorated, Todorovic hopes to kickstart a new run of formagainst Reese on Saturday night, though he acknowledges he’s facing solid opposition.
“He's a big guy,” he admitted.
“He's primarily a kickboxer who also has a good ground game. He's also a southpaw, he has good kicks and good clinch work. So all those things are very good traits to have. But again, I believe we did a good job prepping for this type of opponent. And yeah, as I said, I have a positive feeling about this weekend's fight.”
A win would snap Todorovic’s two-fight skid, but, more importantly, it would reinforce his belief that his changes have been for the better.
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“It would mean a lot,” he said.
“It means overcoming all those setbacks, overcoming all the hardships, and some of the stuff only myself and few other people know I've been through. So it's going to be a big thing for me, a big thing for my club, for my gym, for my country. So yeah, I'm really looking forward to it.”
Victory would also help keep the spotlight on Serbian fighters on the world stage back in his homeland. UFC is getting increased exposure in Serbia, and Todorovic wants to help lead the way in bringing more notoriety to Serbian MMA, and perhaps even open the door for UFC to one day bring an event to Serbia.
“It would be huge. Recently in Serbia, Arena Fight TV started collaborating with UFC, so they have their own UFC Instagram channel. They promote events together. And also my colleagues, Alexander Rakic, who was one of my training partners for this fight. [There’s] also, Uros Medic, and lots of fighters who are up and coming.
“I believe in two, three years, we're going to have lot more UFC fighters. And it just brings a dose of excitement for what’s gonna come. So, yeah, it definitely feelsgood. And I think good things are coming to Serbia, and maybe even an event there. People there are crazy about MMA, so it would make sense to do that. So yeah, it starts with me, and let’s cross our fingers!”
UFC Fight Night: Gamrot vs Klein took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 31, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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