UFC Vegas 37 main card predictions & best bets – 18/9/2021

Ian Cutelaba vs Devin Clark will set the stage leading into the light heavyweight main event of Anthony Smith vs Ryan Spann this Saturday night at UFC Vegas 37. We’ll take a look at that fight as well as the other four bouts making up the main card in Las Vegas this weekend.

Light Heavyweight: Ion Cuțelaba (-150) vs Devin Clark (+130)

Ion Cutelaba (15-6-1) is winless in his last three fights, settling for a draw in his last bout against Dustin Jacoby and losing back-to-back fights via first round knockout to Magomed Ankalaev. Devin Clark (12-5-0) has gone an underwhelming 4-4 over his last eight fights, most recently getting submitted in the first round against Anthony Smith. Three of Clark’s last four losses have come by way of submission.

Cutelaba is an all-or-nothing type of fighter that will be going for the knockout early in this bout. He may find it, but it’s worth noting that Clark’s last four losses have all come against strong opponents in Smith, Ryan Spann, Aleksansar Rakic and current champion Jan Blachowicz. Clark may be better than his recent record suggests, and if he can avoid getting knocked out by the early surge from Cutelaba, he should be able to get enough control in this fight to earn an upset win.

Women’s Flyweight: Ariane Lipski (-120) vs Mandy Bohm (+100)

Ariane Lipski (13-7-0) entered the UFC on a nine-fight winning streak, but she has struggled in the promotion with a 2-4 record through her first six fights. Mandy Bohm will be making her UFC debut with a 7-0 professional record to her name thus far. Bohm is an intriguing prospect with an impressive 70-inch reach. It’s always difficult to gauge how fighters making their UFC debut will handle the uptick in competition, but we like Bohm’s chances to pass the test.

Lightweight: Arman Tsarukyan (-800) vs Christos Giagos (+500)

Arman Tsarukyan (16-2-0) is 15-1 over his last 16 fights including a 3-1 start in the UFC. His only loss since 2015 came in his UFC debut against Islam Makhachev, who has since established himself as an elite lightweight contender. Christos Giagos (19-8-0) is no bum and has gone 4-1 over his last five fights, but he has neither the power nor the submission chops to give the clearly superior Tsarukyan anything to worry about here.

Middleweight: Joaquin Buckley (-200) vs Antonio Arroyo (+170)

Joaquin Buckley (12-4-0) lives by the sword and dies by the sword. Each of his last six fights have ended by way of knockout; he was on the delivering end of four of those knockouts and on the receiving end of two of them. Antonio Arroyo (9-4-0) entered the UFC on a five-fight winning streak but has since lost each of his first two fights with the promotion. Arroyo’s biggest weakness is his takedown defense, but that won’t be an issue against Buckley who will be happy to trade blows in the center of the octagon. We lean towards Buckley winning, but the price is right on taking a stab on Arroyo to pull off an upset.

Bantamweight: Tony Gravely (-210) vs Nate Maness (+180)

Tony Gravely (21-6-0) is 9-1 over his last 10 fights including back-to-back wins in the UFC since losing his promotional debut to Brett Johns. Nate Maness (13-1-0) is off to a 2-0 start in his first two fights in the UFC. We’ve been rolling with a lot of upsets on this card and can’t help ourselves again in this one; on paper, this looks like a more even matchup than the UFC betting odds suggest, so we’ll go with Maness.