The UFC APEX Facility in Las Vegas will host UFC on ESPN 18 on Saturday night. Originally, the headliner was a heavyweight tilt between Curtis Blaydes and one-time UFC Heavyweight Championship challenger Derrick Lewis. However, Blaydes tested positive the day before the event for COVID-19, so the bout was canceled. The co-main event, a fight between Devin Clark and former UFC Light Heavyweight Championship challenger Anthony Smith has been promoted from a three-round event to a five-round headliner. A welterweight fight between Miguel Baeza and Takashi Sato is now the co-main event.
Let’s take a look at the full fight card as well as our UFC betting thoughts about the key bouts.
UFC on ESPN 18 Preview: Smith vs Clark
Main Card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Anthony Smith vs Devin Clark (Light Heavyweight)
Miguel Baeza vs Takashi Sato (Welterweight)
Josh Parisian vs Parker Porter (Heavyweight)
Spike Carlyle vs Bill Algeo (Featherweight)
Ashlee Evans-Smith vs Norma Dumont Viana (Women’s Catchweight – 139.5 lbs)
Jonathan Pearce vs Kai Kamaka III (Featherweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN+)
Martin Day vs Anderson dos Santos (Bantamweight)
Gina Mazany vs Rachael Ostovich (Women’s Flyweight)
Su Mudaerji vs Malcolm Gordon (Flyweight)
Luke Sanders vs Nathan Maness (Catchweight – 140 lbs)
Anthony Smith (33-16, 8-6 UFC, -140) vs Devin Clark (12-4, 6-4 UFC, +120)
Anthony Smith vs Devin Clark brings us an interesting redemption story in Smith, who got cut when UFC acquired Strikeforce before finding his way back in. When he made his move to light heavyweight back in 2018, he won three fights in four months to become one of the division’s top contenders. He got his first title shot against Jon Jones, making it through all five rounds but failing to do much damage to the champ. He beat Alexander Gustafsson to show that he was nonetheless an elite contender. In 2020, though, things have not gone well, as he took a bad beating from Glover Teixeira in his first fight after the pandemic shutdown. He also lost to Aleksandar Rakic, so his future is murkier than it was before COVID-19.
Devin Clark is a terrific wrestler, but if he tries to engage instriking, things can go poorly for him. He was piling up points in fights against Alex Nicholson, Jan Blachowicz and Rakic before he started looking for a finish and got too aggressive. As a result, he ended up being finished instead. He did rebound nicely in June with a victory over Alonzo Menifield. Clark can win if the fight stays on the floor, but he doesn’t defend well, and he can’t finish. Smith should be able to find a way through and deliver a big bomb.
Final Prediction: Smith wins via knockout
Josh Parisian (13-3, 0-0 UFC, -230) vs Parker Porter (9-6, 0-1 UFC, +190)
Josh Parisian makes his UFC debut after putting in a lot of work to ingratiate himself in the promotion. He delivered a stunning knockout of Greg Rebello on Dana White’s Contender Series back in 2018. That didn’t get him to the UFC, but it did get him a place on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter. He did not win his season, so he went back to regional MMA before winning another DWCS fight to get to UFC. Porter also took a long road to the UFC. He was one of Jon Jones’ opponents back early in Jones’ career, but he spent over a decade in regional MMA in New England. Finally, he got a call for a last-minute fight in August and got taken apart by Chris Daukaus.
Parisian has a good bit of agility for a fighter of his size, and he can bring bombs. Against wrestlers who have more strength, he has struggled. Porter likes to bring pressure from start to finish, hoping to grind his opponent out and win on stamina. If Porter is going to do that here, he will have to survive the early blitz from Parisian. He has shown durability in the past, but that quick loss to Daukaus is not a promising sign for him.
Final Prediction: Parisian wins via knockout
UFC Betting Odds
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