Smith-Rakic promoted to UFC main event on Aug. 29

The light heavyweight bout between Anthony Smith and Aleksandar Rakic has been promoted to the UFC Fight Night main event on Aug. 29, the promotion announced Saturday.

Zabit Magomedsharipov versus Yair Rodriguez was originally scheduled as the headliner, but the latter dropped out of the fight due to an injury. A replacement wasn't found to face Magomedsharipov on short notice.

Smith versus Rakic, which was already scheduled for the event, will remain a three-round bout.

"Lionheart," a former title challenger, is coming off a TKO loss to Glover Teixeira in May. Smith is 1-2 in his last three outings, with a submission win over Alexander Gustafsson and a one-sided loss to current champion Jon Jones in 2019.

Rakic is one of the most promising prospects in the division but most recently fell short to Volkan Oezdemir via split decision at UFC Busan in December. The 28-year-old won 12 in a row before that loss, including four fights in the UFC. Rakic's last victory was a first-round knockout of Jimi Manuwa in December 2018.

UFC Fight Night, which takes place at the Apex in Las Vegas, will also feature Robbie Lawler versus Neil Magny at welterweight and Ricardo Lamas against Ryan Hall at featherweight.