As a new era dawns in the light heavyweight division, Anthony Smith and Aleksandar Rakic clash in this meeting of Top 10 talents looking to make an early case for contention in the suddenly wide open 205-pound ranks.
Smith has fought for UFC gold in the past, dropping a unanimous decision to Jon Jones last year. He’s split a pair of appearances since, submitting Alexander Gustafsson before losing to Glover Teixeira earlier this year.
Rakic has been a name on the rise in the division for the last couple years. He dropped a questionable split decision to Volkan Oezdemir last time out, snapping his four-fight UFC winning streak and halting his 12-fight overall run of success as well, but remains one of the newer, younger names in the division to watch and could take a major step forward with a victory here.