Exclusive, Miloš Janičić for Sportal: Bojković wanted to exploit my knee injury, then regretted it for life! UFC is a dream come true /VIDEO/

I'd like to give a shout-out to Cody. We train at Filip Volšek's place, who handles their recovery and injuries. Cody had a minor ligament injury, so we were doing rehab together almost every day. He's a top-notch guy. I'm glad to train with someone like him.

Honestly, it's hard for anything else to really grab my attention now. I follow a bit of football and basketball, but it's not the same. I only really follow combat sports.

Well, you cope mentally by adapting to whatever comes your way in the moment. Knee surgery was definitely the toughest and best moment of my life, because everyone, even close friends and others around you, tends to write you off. You're left alone, unable to walk, and so on. In the end, Bojković wouldn't have fought me if that hadn't happened. He wanted to take advantage of me while I was recovering from my knee injury, and he ended up regretting it for the rest of his life. So, it was the best moment in my career and my life.

It's much easier to prepare for that type of match and fight format because it's pure boxing. Three rounds of three minutes, much shorter rounds, no wrestling, no kicks, nothing like that. It's much easier to prepare, but as a fight, in my opinion, it's more brutal. The ring is very small (maybe 3x3), there's no clinching, no resting. Just headshots, elbows, small gloves... The damage is much greater and the ring is much smaller, so it's much, much tougher. In terms of consequences, but in terms of preparation – it's much harder to prepare for an MMA fight.

Always the best. A knockout is what I always chase, and it's the best feeling there is. Anyone who hasn't scored a knockout doesn't know what it's like. This time, I didn't feel great because I suffered that rupture. I'm happy I finished the fight immediately after that, because he was knocked down, and I went straight to treat the injury, get an MRI, and so on. So, this time I really regretted that it happened, but it is what it is, I celebrated and fought the match.

You've done your research, you know your history! Well, I mean, he was there watching all three Dirty Boxing events. Now, whether he knows who I am, I'm not sure. He's there as one of the faces promoting Dirty Boxing. I don't think he pays too much attention, maybe he's heard of me... It's not like we talked much, and I can't bother him with a million other people around, so – there you go.

Well, Dana didn't call personally, but the UFC matchmakers were there at that fight, and they're in good contact with my managers. So, I think everything is crystal clear.

I think it's the best possible scenario. My third appearance in the Arena, Diesel Power, and our home crowd... It's a dream come true.

Well, I think audiences always change their minds, not just here but anywhere in the world. In MMA, they say: You're only as good as your last fight. And that's true. Sides change quickly, and people get disappointed in someone quickly, which is logical and a natural process. But still, I'm glad to have the sympathy of the Serbian audience and the Balkan audience. Although, it wasn't difficult for me against Marko, or Bojković... I don't know, that's it, it's up to me now to keep proving myself and justifying that I'm upholding the honor of Serbia and Montenegro.

Well, I've never had a problem with displaying the flag. I've always carried the Montenegrin tricolor, which is the true Montenegrin flag of the Kingdom of Montenegro that we carried for hundreds of years, even when Serbia and Montenegro were united. This new policy, these new things they're introducing, sanctions against Russia and so on, and that red flag which, in my opinion, isn't the real flag but the tricolor... I just carry the flag of Montenegro. As for the UFC, there was a clause for a while (I think two or three years) when they didn't allow it. Last year it was reintroduced, so flags can be displayed. We must represent our country!

Well, when we mentioned Radaković and that fight before, that was a derby a long time ago. Let's say, MMA wasn't as hyped then, but at that moment, it was the biggest fight. Radaković was also a product of CDS and Achilles, that was the step before the UFC, his career also ended like Marko's. Again, Icko was the corner for both of them, Icko was their main coach, so, history somewhat repeated itself. Back then, I had a YouTube clip, a compilation about that fight. The Diesel Power song was also playing then, and now, this was the second part. Only this time it was much more widely followed, so it got that resonance, but Diesel Power has been going for eight years.

Well, you know, he doesn't know, and if people don't know, Hussein and I have known each other for a very long time. We trained together at the UFC Gym, and in that UFC Gym, at Ivan Dijaković's place, there's an apartment on the third floor. We were together in that apartment, not just him and me, but five other fighters. So, it's a big apartment, there were five or six fighters living there. Hussein and I have known each other for a very long time, we were together in that apartment and we trained, and he's a good guy, I'd say. But, you see, I don't know what possessed him to challenge me. Although again, everyone looks for their chance to get into the UFC, to seize that opportunity, so he called me out. Whether they'll sign him, I honestly don't know. Whatever the UFC decides, it's not up to me to choose.

I've been doped my entire career, so... Not entirely, but out of my twenty-something fights, I was only clean for a couple. At the beginning of my career, with Prodanović, Negucić, and those two fights in Oktagon (against Hosenpur and Dobrijević, that kickboxing match) – I was essentially doped then. But now I've been clean for about five months, I can say. Although, I'm currently using something prescribed by my doctor for an injury, with a medical prescription, so I don't think there will be any problems with the UFC.

Well, they need to understand, first and foremost, that they are... You can never challenge someone; MMA is the king of all disciplines. That needs to be known. MMA is real fighting; everything else (boxing, kickboxing) are disciplines – divided fights. You can't challenge someone who is in the main martial art and in the biggest sport, and I'm much more accomplished than them. I mean, I would never challenge myself, or someone more accomplished than me in their sport, even if it's not MMA. They're trying to get something for nothing, but it won't happen, you know. Let them keep fighting for small money and push their careers locally. I'm in the UFC now, so we can say goodbye.

Look, for good money, everyone would do anything. I mean, not everything, but we're talking about fights. Everyone would agree to fight, especially since it's an easy match. It's a bit hard to say, you know, but I don't support it at all because it makes a mockery of the sport. Secondly, everyone is so insecure these days, everyone wants to be a fighter, to be in the spotlight. You're insulting us fighters by doing that, because, again, you had time to become fighters, and you didn't. Don't try to put on a show now and put yourselves in the same sentence as fighters, you know. So, there you go, luckily I'm going to the UFC, I hope, and I hope I won't have to fight there (in freak matches).

Well, I would have done it if the UFC hadn't come along. I already beat him (referring to a potential YouTuber/influencer) fair and square, as everyone saw. Cowards always have an excuse. Cowards always say: before the fight it was one story, now it's another, as if he wasn't that, that he was this, that he was that... People laugh at him and see what an idiot he is. He'd better accept the truth. I don't see what he wants, after a year, to have a rematch with me, when he was completely outclassed? He was very lucky that the UFC is coming now, that it's very close in timing to FNC so we don't have a rematch, because in a rematch he would have fared much worse. That story, that it wasn't him, that's a story for little kids. So, he'll remember me for the rest of his life.

That's literally 10 steps backward. He's a guy with three losses in four fights, he's in a heavier weight class than me... I mean, he has three losses in four fights, and for as long as his career and life last, he knows he'll never be in the UFC. That's very sad and unfortunate, that in this life and in this youth, you'll never enter the UFC – again, that's every fighter's dream. I don't know, maybe fate will bring us together someday, but I think it would be a very easy fight for us.

I was still in my fourth year of high school then. I don't like excuses, but I took that fight in a heavier weight class very unprepared, and again, the referee stopped it a bit too early, but all that is irrelevant – time has shown who is who. He's a fighter who has stagnated a lot and he's... He fights locally. The fact that he's calling me out tells you everything. I'm aiming for the world's top, he'll remain local for the rest of his life, and that's that.

Well, you know, I have a large following on social media, a lot of followers, many people see my stories, then TikTok opened up... I see, when there's already this hype and everything, it should be used across all social media to expand those views and followers. So, I started that YouTube a bit too, when I have time. But I'm not dedicated enough to it. I'm glad there's a great response from the audience, views, and everything.

Well, I think the training level is ten times better. Everything here is semi-professional. Neither the coaches, nor the clubs in general, nor the fighters' desire – nothing here is as serious as it is there. That's world-class over there. Just like in America. If you haven't been, you don't know. People often act smart, they haven't left the Balkans and Serbia and think they know better. Let time show everything. My results speak for themselves, and Thailand is a much, much higher level than what's here. And incidentally, good climate, good weather, affordable prices... Ideal.

Nemanja is an old friend of mine, and we've trained a lot, but I'm going to those trainings less now because I've dedicated much more to stand-up. They focus too much on ground fighting there. Jiu-jitsu was the primary sport I knew, but I usually come there in the final phase of preparations, to work on specific things, getting out of various positions, and for sparring. But otherwise, most of the time I work at the Kalist boxing club and at CDS Belgrade, there at Vilin Vode in Mega Gym. I try to avoid any mishaps when I'm here in Serbia, like getting injured or something similar, so I can't do the same there.

Well, Negucić is one example, one of those who was once in CDS Belgrade, with his team. He had the CDS emblem tattooed, then he moved to Achilles, then he was in Achilles for a while, covered the CDS emblem with a tattoo. Then he left Achilles for Fight Company, to get some views and followers, then he went back to Achilles with Bojković and them, for views and followers. That's how it comes back to him in his career. I've always openly gone to various clubs and never transparently committed to one club. The only club I'm loyal to is CDS Novi Sad with Nemanja, and otherwise, I change clubs, we go around. But fighters here look more for personal gain than anything else.

Well, they don't mean much to me because they're in a different weight class, of course. They are... They're not my sparring partners or training partners (in the sense of three or four weight classes difference between us). I was with Aleksandar Rakić in Thailand this winter, and it's great to watch someone like him, how dedicated he is, because he trains a lot, a lot, and the motivation is great. You see when someone is disciplined – it means a lot.

Whatever you achieve, it keeps moving further because there are always those who have achieved much more, so... My dream, from the beginning, from when I was 15 and first watched MMA and the UFC, was to be a UFC fighter. I am now making history for Montenegro, because I will be the first and only UFC fighter ever. So that is the crowning achievement of my career and life for now. Until I have a family, it's to be a UFC fighter, the first and only from Montenegro. And after that, of course, we will go further – to enter the rankings (Top 15 in the world), then Top 10 and so on. But for now, let it be that UFC signing.

Oh, that's far off. I don't look that far ahead, there will be some business, some club or something, it will be there... But that's for later.