Established light-heavyweight fighter Aleksander Rakic will move up to heavyweight for his next fight against Marcin Tybura at UFC Fight Night 283 in Belgrade, Serbia on August 1st.

The 34-year-old Rakic has been competing at 205lbs since he first joining the UFC nearly nine years ago. Initially he made a strong impact there, putting together a 6-1 run by 2021 with wins over the likes of Thiago Santos, Anthony Smith and Jimi Manuwa.

However, just when he was pushing towards title contention his form shifted in a downward direction and he’s gone on to lose four fights in a row.

That began with a TKO loss to former champ Jan Blachowicz due to suffering an ACL injury that would lead to a two-year lay-off. Upon his return he then suffered a TKO loss to Jiri Prochazka, followed by dropping a decision to Magomed Ankalaev and then another TKO defeat against Azmat Murzakanov last October.

Now Rakic will attempt to make a fresh start by going up to heavyweight, where he’ll now face a veteran of the division in the 40-year-old Tybura, who is coming off back-to-back defeats against Ante Delija and Tyrell Fortune.

Tybura has been competing in the UFC for a decade now, compiling a 14-10 record overall, with his biggest wins coming over the likes of Andrei Arlovski, Stefan Struve, Serghei Spivac and Tai Tuivasa.

Rakic vs. Tybura joins a UFC Fight Night 283 card that will be headlined by a welterweight fight between Uros Medic and Daniel Rodriguez, while Johnny Walker also fights Ante Delija on the main card for the UFC’s first visit to Serbia.