When he heard of the outbreak against the dahija in Valjevo and Šumadija Obradović was operating as a hajduk (highwayman) and in response he "began to attack the Turks more frequently".
He did not take part in the Battle of Čokešina (28 April 1804) due to a quarrel with Jakov Nenadović, one of the most prominent leaders of the uprising in western Serbia, but soon after he fought together with others against the Turks near Belgrade and during the capture of Požarevac.
He dominated Jadar, Rađevina and the scaffold towards Sremska Mitrovica and from there he led the fight against the Turks on his own.
Undisicplined by nature, his quarrel with Nikola Grbović and Luka Lazarević, as well as an incursion by the Turks from the Drina, hastened the decision to remove him.
Ćurčija was suddenly attacked in Novo Selo in the summer of 1804, where he was killed resisting Jakov Nenadović's men.