UFC Vegas 37: Smith vs Spann main event preview & best bets

Anthony Smith and Ryan Spann clash in a light heavyweight bout at UFC Vegas 37 this Saturday night as both fighters look to build momentum towards an eventual title shot. The winner of this main event could earn themselves a fight against a top-five opponent, so we can expect a ding-dong battle in Las Vegas.

Smith vs Spann fight analysis

Anthony Smith (35-16-0) has fought for the UFC Lightweight Championship once before, losing to Jon Jones by decision at UFC 235 to bring an impressive 6-1 run to an end. Smith went on to lose two of his next three fights to Glover Teixeira and Aleksandar Rakic, but since then he has bounced back with consecutive first-round wins over Devin Clark and Jimmy Crute. Those two wins came by submission and technical knockout respectively; each of Smith’s last nine wins have come by stoppage, with six knockouts and three submission victories.

Ryan Spann (19-6-0) entered the UFC on a four-fight winning streak and won his first four fights with the promotion, extending his unbeaten run to eight fights before losing his first fight in the UFC by knockout to Johnny Walker. Spann shook off that loss with a first-round knockout win over Misha Cirkunov in March. Over his current 9-1 run, Spann has earned four wins by knockout and four wins by submission.

Smith vs Spann betting predictions

This is a tough fight to predict. Both of these fighters are dangerous both on their feet and on the mat. Despite having 13 submission wins under his belt, Anthony Smith usually prefers to keep the fight standing, even though he tends to absorb more significant blows than he delivers. Smith is just so damn tough that his defense and strategy are hard to question given how often his opponents end up out of commission at the end of the fight.

We will learn a lot about how good Ryan Spann is from this fight. If he is able to hold his ground against Smith’s striking and control the tempo on the ground, he will establish himself as a legitimate top ten light heavyweight. Spann has passed the eye test to date, but he hasn’t fought anyone as tough as Smith yet. We lean towards the veteran given his durability and experience, but this fight could definitely go either way and should be a fun one to watch.