UFC Fight Night 153 Odds & Betting Preview

On Saturday, UFC heads to Stockholm, Sweden, where the Ericsson Globe will host UFC Fight Night 153, featuring a light heavyweight tilt between Alexander Gustafsson and Anthony Smith, two former challengers for the UFC Light Heavyweight belt, as the main event. The co-main event will feature Jimi Manuwa and Aleksandar Rakic, also light heavyweight fighters. The preliminary card will be available on ESPN2, while the main card will move to ESPN+. We have the entire fight card for you, as well as UFC betting thoughts on several of the tilts.

UFC Fight Night 153 Odds & Betting Preview

Event Info

• When: June 1, 2019
• Where: Ericsson Globe, Stockholm, Sweden
• TV: ESPN+ 11
• Live Stream: UFC Fight Pass

Main Card (ESPN+)

• Alexander Gustafsson vs Anthony Smith (Light Heavyweight)
• Jimi Manuwa vs Aleksandar Rakic (Light Heavyweight)
• Makwan Amirkhani vs Chris Fishgold (Featherweight)
• Damir Hadzovic vs Christos Giagos (Lightweight)
• Daniel Teymur vs Sung Bin Jo (Featherweight)

Preliminary Card (ESPN2)

• Rostem Akman vs Sergey Khandozhko (Welterweight)
• Tonya Evinger vs Lina Lansberg (Women’s Bantamweight)
• Stevie Ray vs Leonardo Santos (Lightweight)
• Nick Hein vs Frank Camacho (Lightweight)
• Bea Malecki vs Eduarda Santana (Women’s Bantamweight)
• Darko Stosic vs Devin Clark (Light Heavyweight)
• Joel Alvarez vs Danilo Belluardo (Lightweight)

Alexander Gustafsson (18-5, -330) vs Anthony Smith (31-14, +270)

• UFC Fight Night 153: Gustafsson -330 / Smith +270

gives us possibly the second-best light heavyweight in MMA behind Jon Jones, now that Daniel Cormier has moved up to heavyweight. However, he has not shown a lot of consistency since losing to Cormier. He did not show much energy in a win over Jan Blachowicz, and then he made a lot of tactical errors in a win over Glover Teixeira that a better fighter would have exploited. He did get a rematch against Jones, but it did not go as well as the first fight, and Jones moved in to get a takedown and delivered a finish. It’s an interesting division within UFC, as there is Jon Jones…and there is everyone else. Smith comes in as a major question mark in MMA. He came into UFC from Strikeforce taking a bad loss to Antonio Braga Neto, tapping in the first two minutes and ending up getting released from UFC. However, he then built himself back up and won seven fights in a row and was brought back as a late fill-in for a fight. He took losses against Elvis Mutapcic, Andrew Sanchez and Hector Lombard before going on a run that would end in a loss to Thiago Santos. Smith moved to light heavyweight, though, and he picked up wins against Rashad Evans and Mauricio Rua (both a bit past their best), and he ground out a win over Volkan Oezdemir to get a title shot. He switched out his usual aggressive style for a defensive one against Jones and saw Jones win on the cards. With a win over Gustafsson, he could supplant him as the second-best light heavyweight. The key in this fight is the strength that Gustafsson has in his wrestling game — and the holes in Smith’s takedown defense. I see this fight moving evenly until Gustafsson takes the fight to the floor. UFC Fight Night 153 Prediction: Gustafsson wins via submission Jimi Manuwa (17-5) vs Aleksandar Rakic (11-1)

• UFC Fight Night 153: Manuwa +190 / Rakic -230

features a fighter who may be on the downward arc in his career — he didn’t make his pro debut until he was 30 — after losses to Alexander Gustafsson and Anthony Johnson. He did beat Ovince St. Preux and Corey Anderson but took an upset loss against Volkan Oezdemir that removed him from title contention. He lost to Jan Blachowicz and Thiago Santos, and now that he is 39, his tank may be running low. For Rakic’s side, this is a test to see if he is ready to emerge from the masses and become a contender in the classification. He did beat Francimar Barroso in an initial test, and he used wrestling to dominate the cards against Justin Ledet. After beating Devin Clark in a mixed performance, it’s hard to see where Rakic’s arc will take him at this time. He has the momentum here, but Manuwa is the best fighter he has taken on so far. The holes in his defense — and Manuwa’s striking power — don’t bode well for the newcomer. UFC Fight Night 153 Prediction: Manuwa wins via knockout