Uros Medic may have cleared one major hurdle in his quest to headline a UFC event in his home country.
UFC Houston proved to be a banner show for Medic, who scored a nasty first-round knockout of Geoff Neal in Saturday’s co-main event. Afterwards, Medic called for a fight with former welterweight champion Leon Edwards and for it to take place in Medic’s native Serbia.
However, Medic admitted immigration issues have prevented him from leaving the United States and implored President Donald Trump to help clear up the situation.
“I got one little problem,” Medic said. “Immigration’s been holding me up and I can’t travel just yet. So this is my plea for help. Mr. President, if you can see this, please, we’ve got to go to Belgrade, Serbia, for the UFC this summer.”
According to Medic, his plea did not fall on deaf ears, as UFC CEO Dana White later invited him to his office to speak to Trump personally. Trump assured Medic that his immigration issues will be taken care of.
“As an immigrant it’s a little hard getting things done,” Medic said. “I know how busy they are, almost everyone in the world wants to live in the United States so immigration, it is hard. They have a lot of work to do and my case has been kind of backed up and not moving, so I was just waiting and waiting and waiting and at one point, I mean, I probably could have mentioned before I’ve been five years in the UFC, five years there was no changes. I have work permit, I’m allowed to work, there was travel documents for me to travel. I never felt safe using them because there was COVID and all this bullshit. So I never used them and I didn’t travel, so at this point I was already at the end of my patience and I had to say something and I think it was a perfect opportunity to speak my mind about it. Again, not wanting to knock them down or talk anything bad about them, I know they’re all trying to do their jobs, but I have to use the position that I’m at and I had to mention it because it’s been hard not being able to travel home.
“Little did I know I get back, a phone call with Dana White, I’m back in his office, and Dana’s got President Donald Trump on speakerphone and I was just standing there, I cannot believe what’s happening. He said, ‘You’re good to go wherever you please. Just give Dana the documentation information that you need’ and I’m just blown away.”
It’s unclear how much more bureaucracy Medic actually has to deal with so that he can return home and potentially help White arrange a UFC event in Serbia’s capital, but he was heartened by his conversation with the president, whose wife Melania hails from nearby Slovenia.
“It was just amazing for me to tell him about the situation and how big of a fan I am of him and obviously his wife was from where I’m from,” Medic said. “Considering where I’m from, even though it’s a different country, it’s like a five-hour drive, that’s nothing for America. You can’t even get out of Texas in five hours.
“I’m still processing all of it. Dana just made my dreams come true for the second time. Third time. First, was to get signed; second, was to go into the top 15; now, I just got to speak with Mr. President on the phone and he said I’m good to travel. My stuff is done, so it’s going to take a minute for me to just process this. A lot has happened in the past hour.”
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