In the complicated final stretch of his career, the lightweight legend served as a 'ladder' for future interim featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez.
UFC fight record holder, Arlovski has already been used as a 'ladder' against the likes of Francis Ngannou and, more recently, Tom Aspinall.
Paulo Borrachinha not only used Johny Hendricks as a 'step' towards a middleweight title fight, but also retired the former welterweight champion.
Even the biggest ones have their 'ladder' days. Anderson Silva experienced this in the 'passing of the baton' to Nigerian Israel Adesanya.
Middleweight icon, Ronaldo Jacaré left MMA with four straight defeats, one of them to the then promising fighter in the category, Kevin Holland.
If in the past he used CroCop as a ladder, more than a decade later, Cigano found himself on the opposite side, serving as a step towards the rise of future interim champion Ciryl Gane.