This Saturday night features the latest installment of UFC Fight Night, from the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas. Leon Edwards was scheduled to take on Khamzat Chimaev in a welterweight fight as the main event, but for the third time, their meeting was canceled. Chimaev had to withdraw as he continues to suffer from ongoing effects from his COVID-19 case. Belal Muhammad has stepped in to take the fight instead. In the co-headliner, Misha Cirkunov and Ryan Spann will tangle in a light heavyweight bout. You can catch the whole evening on ESPN+.
We have the full fight card, along with UFC betting thoughts on the two main tilts.
UFC Fight Night 187: Edwards vs Muhammad Preview
Main Card (ESPN+)
Leon Edwards vs Belal Muhammad (Welterweight)
Misha Cirkunov vs Ryan Spann (Light Heavyweight)
Dan Ige vs Gavin Tucker (Featherweight)
Jonathan Martinez vs Davey Grant (Bantamweight)
Matheus Nicolau vs Manel Kape (Flyweight)
Eryk Anders vs Darren Stewart (Middleweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN+)
Angela Hill vs Ashley Yoder (Women’s Strawweight)
Charles Jourdain vs Marcelo Rojo (Featherweight)
Rani Yahya vs Ray Rodriguez (Bantamweight)
Nasrat Haqparast vs Rafa Garcia (Lightweight)
Cortney Casey vs J.J. Aldrich (Women’s Flyweight)
Jinh Yu Frey vs Gloria de Paula (Women’s Strawweight)
Matthew Semelsberger vs Jason Witt (Welterweight)
Leon Edwards (18-3, 10-2 UFC, -260) vs Belal Muhammad (18-3, 9-3 UFC, +220) is the latest step in what has been a frustrating pandemic for Edwards. He came into UFC with the reputation as a knockout specialist, but his debut featured a loss to Claudio Silva due to Silva’s focus on wrestling. Edwards did bounce back with a knockout of Seth Baczynski that only took eight seconds, but he also worked on his clinch game, as he showed in a points win over Pawel Pawlak that was heavy on the wrestling. He beat Donald Cerrone in a main event in 2018 and took down Gunnar Nelson a year later, following that up with a main event win over Rafael dos Anjos. He was set to fight Tyron Woodley in a London headliner last March, but the COVID-19 pandemic took down that card, and Edwards has remained the odd man out when it comes to getting a shot at a contender.
Neither Chimaev (a rising prospect) nor Muhammad is the opponent Edwards wants. Muhammad started his UFC career with a pair of losses, but since then he has won nine fights in out of ten. In June, he beat Lyman Good to show he can fight at range when he has a power deficit, and he demolished Dhiego Lima a little over a month ago. Here, he gets the last-second call to fill in. Both of these fighters show adaptability in their styles. Edwards has the ability to use his reach to make a fight part of the clinch in a matter of seconds, and Muhammad has never really taken on a pure clinch. Edwards still retains striking power, although he does not finish nearly as often as he used to. I see Edwards using the clinch to assert himself and stack up points.
Final Prediction:
Edwards wins via decision
Misha Cirkunov (15-5, 6-3 UFC, -125) vs Ryan Spann (18-6, 4-1 UFC, +105) features a light heavyweight who did not quite meet his early expectations in Cirkunov. Thanks to his athleticism and his expertise in grappling and wrestling, he picked up a couple of easy wins on the mat, including a 2016 win over Nikita Krylov. However, Volkan Oezdemir shut down his clinch approach with a knockout just 28 seconds into their fight, showing that Cirkunov’s defense needed some work. In his last three fights, he beat Patrick Cummins and Jimmy Crute easily with his wrestling, finishing both in the first round, but in between those wins he got bombed by Johnny Walker in 36 seconds. So if Spann can deliver a knockout blow, then he could win easily — but Spann could also end up getting finished on the ground.
Spann got his breakout win with a first-round KO of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. He followed that up with wins over Devin Clark and Sam Alvey on the cards, but the power was lacking. He does not show a focused game plan when he’s fighting yet, and as he has advanced up the ladder, that has hurt him, as it did when Johnny Walker knocked him out as well. So while Spann could bring the bomb against Cirkunov, it’s a lot likelier that Cirkunov brings him to the mat.
Final Prediction:
Cirkunov wins via submission
UFC Betting Odds
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