The UFC is well into the resuming of its events after COVID-19 saw it bring a halt to fight nights. The latest promotion being touted by the UFC will see Aleksandar Rakic and Anthony Smith being featured on the 29th of August for its Fight Night main event.
Originally, the card was scheduled to see Yair Rodriguez versus Zabit Magomedsharipov. However, Rodriguez dropped out of the fight after suffering an unspecified injury. Due to the limited notice, the UFC was unable to find a replacement and therefore cancelled the fight.
As Aleksandar Rakic and Anthony Smith were already scheduled to fight during the event, they were upgraded to the main event but will retain the same scheduled three-round bout. Anthony Smith’s last fight against Glover Teixeira resulted in a loss leaving him with only one win in his previous three bouts. Smith’s latest victory came against Alexander Gustafsson, and his other loss was to the current champion, Jon Jones.
Aleksandar Rakic is considered of the top prospects in the heavyweight division but fell short of earning a victory in his fight against Volkan Oezdemi during December’s UFC Busan. At 28, he has racked up a dozen back to back wins before the loss, and that included a first round knockout in December 2018 against Jimi Manuwa.
UFC 252 Update
The UFC Fight Night will take place in Las Vegas at the Apex and will feature welterweights Robbie Lawler taking on Neil Magny and featherweights Ricardo Lamas vs Ryan Hall. Sean O’Malley failed to retain his undefeated record while fighting Marlon Vera at UFC 252 after being knocked out in the first round.
Early in the fight, O’Malley seemed to injure his foot and battled to stay standing before being knocked out and taken out on a stretcher. O’Malley fell to the may early into the first round, and Vera unloaded a vicious series of elbow shots. While O-Malley wasn’t out for the count, he was visibly injured, and referee Herb Dean called an end to the bout.
O’Malley came out strong in the opening seconds of the fight and was able to keep Vera at bay. However, once Vera picked up on O’Malley’s injury, he took over and scored the win. Vera now has a 6-1 record, while O’Malley fell to 4-1.