Report: UFC planning Thiago Santos-Aleksandar Rakic fight for March 6

UFC light heavyweight Thiago Santos (21-8) needed less than a full week to schedule his return to the octagon. 

ESPN's Brett Okamoto reports that Santos will follow his submission defeat to Glover Teixeira last weekend with a March 6 matchup versus Aleksandar Rakic (13-2) that's being finalized by the UFC. 

Okamoto added this will be a three-round bout and, thus, won't serve as the card's main event.

Before Santos fell to Teixeira, he last competed in July 2019 when he was unsuccessful in his attempt to dethrone then-champion Jon Jones. He entered that evening on a four-fight win streak but suffered a serious knee injury in the loss to Jones. 

The 36-year-old is healthy and ready to compete early next year. 

Rakic, meanwhile, currently sits at fourth in the official rankings in the division and won in his first four UFC appearances until he lost to Volkan Oezdemir via split decision last December. The 28-year-old recovered from the minor setback and earned a unanimous decision over Anthony Smith in what was a dominant performance on Aug. 29. 

There's currently no official UFC event for March 6, nor is there a planned headliner or venue. The promotion has held handfuls of shows at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and the Fight Island site on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi during the coronavirus pandemic.