| UFC Fight Night: Smith vs. Rakić | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC Fight Night: Smith vs. Rakić | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | August 29, 2020 (2020-08-29) | |||
| Venue | UFC Apex | |||
| City | Enterprise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | None (behind closed doors)[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC Fight Night: Smith vs. Rakić (also known asUFC Fight Night 175,UFC on ESPN+ 33 andUFC Vegas 8) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on August 29, 2020, at theUFC Apex facility inEnterprise, Nevada, part of theLas Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[2]
Promotion officials were originally targeting a featherweight bout betweenThe Ultimate Fighter: Latin America featherweight winnerYair Rodríguez andZabit Magomedsharipov to serve as the event headliner.[3] However, Rodríguez pulled out of the bout on August 5 with an ankle injury and Magomedsharipov announced he would not fight at the event.[4][5] The pairing was first scheduled to take place atUFC 228 in September 2018, but Rodríguez also pulled out of that event with an injury.[6] The pairing was rescheduled forUFC 254.[7]
On August 15, it was announced that a light heavyweight bout between formerUFC Light Heavyweight Championship challengerAnthony Smith andAleksandar Rakić would serve as a three-round main event.[8]
Emily Whitmire was scheduled to facePolyana Viana in a women's strawweight bout atUFC 248 earlier this year.[9] However, Whitmire weighed in at 117.5 pounds, one and a half pounds over the strawweight non-title fight limit. She was subsequently hospitalized the day of the event, thus cancelling the fight.[10] The pairing was rescheduled for this event instead.[11] It was reportedly rescheduled as a women's flyweight bout, but ultimately took place as a women's strawweight contest.[12]
A featherweight bout between formerUFC Featherweight Championship challengerRicardo Lamas andThe Ultimate Fighter: Team McGregor vs. Team Faber lightweight winnerRyan Hall was also scheduled to initially take place earlier this year atUFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs. Weidman, but the event was cancelled in mid-March due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[13] The pairing was rescheduled for this event.[14] In turn, Hall pulled out due to undisclosed reasons a week before the event.[15] He was replaced by promotional newcomerBill Algeo.[16]
A welterweight bout betweenNeil Magny andGeoff Neal was scheduled to take place at this event. However, Neal withdrew from the event on August 9 due to a severe case ofpneumonia that evolved tosepsis.[17] He was replaced by formerUFC Welterweight ChampionRobbie Lawler. The original pairing is now expected to take place atUFC on ESPN: Rodriguez vs. Waterson[18]
A light heavyweight rematch betweenMagomed Ankalaev andIon Cuțelaba was expected to take place at this event.[19] The pair first met atUFC Fight Night: Benavidez vs. Figueiredo, where Ankalaev won via controversial knockout.[20] The bout was originally expected to take place atUFC 249, on its original April 18 date. However, Ankalaev was forced to pull out of the event due totravel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] They were later rebooked forUFC 252, but Cuțelaba then pulled out after hetested positive for COVID-19 and the bout was rescheduled for this event.[22] Cuțelaba tested positive yet again on the day of the event, resulting in another cancellation of this fight.[23]
A featherweight bout betweenAlex Caceres andGiga Chikadze was initially scheduled to take place three weeks earlier atUFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Oleinik, but was pushed back to this event due to undisclosed reasons.[24] In turn, Chikadze withdrew from the bout on August 26 after testing positive for COVID-19 and was briefly replaced by promotional newcomerKevin Croom.[25][26] Subsequently on the following day, Croom was removed and replaced by fellow newcomer Austin Springer.[27]
A middleweight bout betweenMaki Pitolo and promotional newcomerImpa Kasanganay was briefly linked toUFC on ESPN: Munhoz vs. Edgar a week earlier.[28] However, promotion officials elected to move the pairing a week later to this event.[29]
A middleweight bout betweenSaparbek Safarov andJulian Marquez was scheduled for this event.[30] However, the bout was moved toUFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Lewis in November after Safarov faced travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[31]
At the weigh-ins,Hannah Cifers and Austin Springer missed weight for their respective bouts. Cifers weighed in at 117 pounds, one pound over the strawweight non-title fight limit. Springer weighed in at 151 pounds, five pounds over the featherweight non-title fight limit. Both of their bouts proceeded at catchweight and they were each fined 20% and 30% of their individual purses respectively, which went to their opponentsMallory Martin andAlex Caceres.[32]
| Main card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Light Heavyweight | Aleksandar Rakić | def. | Anthony Smith | Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Neil Magny | def. | Robbie Lawler | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Flyweight | Alexa Grasso | def. | Ji Yeon Kim | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Featherweight | Ricardo Lamas | def. | Bill Algeo | Decision (unanimous) (29–27, 29–27, 29–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN / ESPN+) | |||||||
| Middleweight | Impa Kasanganay | def. | Maki Pitolo | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Zak Cummings | def. | Alessio Di Chirico | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (151 lb) | Alex Caceres | def. | Austin Springer | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 3:38 | |
| Welterweight | Sean Brady | def. | Christian Aguilera | Submission (guillotine choke) | 2 | 1:47 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Polyana Viana | def. | Emily Whitmire | Submission (armbar) | 1 | 1:53 | |
| Catchweight (117 lb) | Mallory Martin | def. | Hannah Cifers | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 2 | 1:33 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[34]
