Anthony Smith announces UFC Fight Night main event against Ryan Spann

UFC light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith announced himself that he will next fight in a UFC Fight Night main event against Ryan Spann.

Smith mentioned the fight against Spann himself during the UFC Vegas 28 pre-show on Saturday, and ESPN later confirmed the booking. The two top-15 ranked light heavyweights will meet on September 18 in the main event of a UFC Fight Night card. There is no venue or location set for the event yet, but Las Vegas seems plausible.

Smith (35-16) is the No. 6 ranked light heavyweight in the UFC. The 32-year-old American is 10-6 overall in the Octagon and he is coming off of back-to-back stoppage wins over Devin Clark and Jimmy Crute in his last two fights. Since moving up to 205lbs permanently in 2018, Smith is 6-3 as a light heavyweight in the UFC with notable wins over the likes of Alexander Gustafsson, Shogun Rua, Rashad Evans, and Volkan Oezdemir. His losses at 205lbs came against Jon Jones, Glover Teixeira, and Aleksandar Rakic, and there is no shame in losing to any of those fighters as they are three of the best in the world.

Spann (19-6) is the No. 11 ranked light heavyweight in the UFC. The 29-year-old American has been solid in the UFC since joining the world’s leading MMA promotion in 2018, going 5-1 overall with three wins by stoppage. In his last outing earlier this year, Spann knocked out Misha Cirkunov in the first round for the biggest win of his career to date. He also holds notable UFC victories over veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Sam Alvey. Spann has been quietly moving up the rankings and, save for a TKO loss to Johnny Walker, he has been very successful and a win over Smith would push him into the top-10 at 205lbs.

Who do you think wins this light heavyweight bout between Anthony Smith and Ryan Spann?