In a light heavyweight bout on the main card, Anthony Smith and Devin Clark meet at UFC on ESPN+ 42 – also called UFC on ESPN 18 and UFC Fight Night 183 – Saturday at the UFC’s APEX facility in Las Vegas. The prelims kick off at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN+, followed by the main card on ESPN/ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET.
Smith (33-16) carries a ton of experience into the octagon for his bout against Clark (12-4). When the two touch gloves before the bell rings, Smith will be standing four inches taller than Clark with a one-inch reach advantage.
Smith has been in freefall since a unanimous decision loss for the title at UFC 235 against Jon Jones on March 2, 2019. Smith has won just once in the past four fights, although losses to Glover Teixeira and Aleksandar Rakic are certainly nothing to hang your head about. Still, Smith is moving further and further away from a chance to get back to the top of the division and fight for a strap. He can ill afford another setback. Two of his past three fights have finished inside the distance, and eight of his 10 bouts at the UFC level have ended up with a stoppage, including four knockout wins and two submission victories.
Clark doesn’t have the lengthy resume like Smith. He has yet to fight for a title at the UFC level, but he has been pretty good. He has back-to-back wins over Dequan Townsend and Alonzo Menifield, both via unanimous decision. Clark’s loss against Ryan Spann on Oct. 12, 2019 came by way of submission in the second round, and like Smith, he also has a setback against Rakic (on the UFC 231 card). Since arriving at the UFC level, Clark is 6-4 with all six wins via unanimous decision, while his four losses have come with two submission setbacks and a pair of knockouts.
Place your legal, online sports bets in CO, IN, NJ, TN and WV at BetMGM, the King of Sportsbooks. New customer offer. Terms and conditions apply. Bet now!
Anthony Smith vs. Devin Clark: Betting odds, predictions and picks
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Friday at 3 p.m. ET.
SMITH (-139) will get off the schneid with a victory over Clark, snapping his little mini skid. Take him on the 2-way line for a solid win.
In addition, play NO (-110): WILL THE FIGHT GO THE DISTANCE? as I am just not feeling the defense of Clark. The latter has dominated the fights he is supposed to dominate, but whenever he has faced stiffer competition, he hasn’t offered a lot of resistance. He is susceptible to the big punch, and his grappling isn’t that great, either. As such, I think Smith ends this via stoppage. Take SMITH BY KO/TKO, DQ or SUBMISSION (+165) for a solid value.
Look for a fight finish in ROUND 2 (+470) and/or ROUND 3 (+700). If you bet a two-round block, and bet a non-winner specific set and the fight ends in either round, you’ll be well ahead even losing one of the ends.
To watch the early prelims and prelims, sign up for ESPN+ now.
Get some action on UFC on ESPN+ 42 by placing a legal sports bet at BetMGM. If you’re looking for more sports betting picks and tips, access all of our content at SportsbookWire.com. Please gamble responsibly.
Also see:
- Blaydes tests positive for COVID-19, main event scrapped (MMA Junkie)
- More UFC/MMA coverage from MMA Junkie
Follow @JoeWilliamsVI on Twitter. Follow SportsbookWire on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.
[lawrence-newsletter]
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=2559]