Anthony Smith vs. Ryan Spann Betting Analysis and Prediction

Whenever the UFC schedule has an Asian-located event, make sure you tune in and watch–everything from the talent to the crowd turns it into one of the best events of the year. 

In the co-main event this weekend in Singapore, the rematch between light heavyweight contenders Anthony Smith and Ryan Spann is taking place. 

Read more for the betting analysis and the final Smith vs Spann prediction ahead of making your bets this weekend. 

Anthony Smith vs Ryan Spann

Location of the game: Singapore Indoor Stadium, Kallang, Singapore.

Date and Time: Saturday, August 26. 8:00 AM ET main card start.

How to Watch: ESPN+

Smith is looking to get back in the winning column after dropping his last two fights. Including a decision loss to Johnny Walker in May.

Spann is looking to bounce back from his first-round submission loss to Nikita Krylov in March. 

Smith is a former title challenger and long-time UFC veteran with a professional MMA record of 36-18 with an incredible 19 KOs and 14 submissions, totaling 33 finishes. Those are numbers you might not ever see again in the sport of MMA. 

“Lionheart” measures in at 6’4” and a 76” reach at the age of 35. But his octagon age is much more due to the damagehe has absorbed throughout his time in the UFC.

The pressure might be on him to win this bout and to keep his spot towards the top of the light heavyweight division. Smith averages 2.96 significant strikes landed and 4.49 significant strikes absorbed per minute in the octagon. 

Spann is a 32-year-old martial artist who has a professional MMA record of 21-8 with six KOs and 12 submissions. Being massive for the light heavyweight division. He measures in at 6’5” and a 79” reach, sometimes weighing up to 235lbs on fight night.

“Superman” averages 3.28 significant strikes landed and 3.32 significant strikes absorbed per minute in the UFC. While topping off his offensive attack with an average of 1.64 takedowns per 15 minutes.

An interesting stat on Spann is he averages only a little over four minutes of cage time in the UFC through his first ten fights–including six straight fights ending in the first round coming into this weekend. 

No injuries have been reported to the UFC. 

The Smith vs Spann prediction can’t be done this week without looking over all the available betting lines for this closely contested rematch between two of the most prolific finishers in the light heavyweight division.

According to UFC odds, Spann is coming in as the -127 betting favorite. Even though Smith (+107) finished him in the first round of their last meeting in 2021. The under 1.5 round total is favored at -180. And the fight is a whopping +375 to make it the full 15 minutes.

From a technical view of this rematch, both men bring their own dangerous skills to the table. It will be a battle of who can take the other guy out with strikes or on the ground. Spann is much more susceptible to submissions on the ground. As Smith takes a more measured approach when the fight goes to the floor.

It will be tough for Spann to submit Smith. But we have seen Smith can really get the job done in the grappling exchanges. Spann is the longer, bigger fighter who will need to use his range much better in this fight to hit Smith from a distance where Smith can’t counter him.

If you look back on the history of UFC rematches. The majority of the time, the previous winner comes in as the favorite and tends to win the rematch as well at around 70% of the time. This rematch isn’t immediate, so those trends start to not fit the narrative.

Making UFC predictions on rematches like this is probably one of the toughest things to do. These two fight like heavyweights if you are talking about how dangerous they are and how quickly their fights seem to end.

• The official Smith vs Spann prediction is that Anthony Smith will get the job done again.

He has a chip on his shoulder, and he needs to bounce back from a tough performance in his last bout.

This is literally a 50/50 fight, but we are going with Smith because his experience and game plan will be able to get his hand raised in Singapore.

If you are feeling lucky, take this fight to go the distance at +375. There might be a much more timid approach by both fighters because they know the other can put them out in any of the first exchanges.

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