This past Saturday’s UFC card in the APEX bubble didn’t promise an awful lot on paper and the event was held true to that prediction, capped by a lackluster and limp main event, a prosaic unanimous decision win for Aleksandar Rakic over former light heavyweight title challenger Anthony Smith.
Consequently, most of the post-fight discussion around the event centered on what would come next for a handful of fighters and not just Smith, who is now 1-3 in his last four bouts after his surprising surge to relevance throughout 2017 and 2018. Former welterweight kingpin Robbie Lawler, now 38 years old, suffered his fourth straight loss in a one-sided decision against Neil Magny, causing many a fan to shed a tear for one of the sport’s most entertainingly violent fighters ever and contemplating how best to send him off in the sunset, while perennial featherweight contender Ricardo Lamas, despite winning a tidy verdict over Bill Algeo, openly discussed contemplating retirement after his victory.