Popular heavyweight Derrick Lewis will be looking to get his career back on track when he faces well-rounded Serghei Spivac in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas.
The fights at UFC Apex are on ESPN+, with the 4 p.m. ET main card preceded by prelims at 1 p.m.
Lewis (26-10) has lost three of his last four fights, a skid that began with a loss to Ciryl Gane in an interim heavyweight title bout last year. Nonetheless, Lewis is No. 8 in the ESPN heavyweight rankings. His 13 knockouts wins in the UFC are the most by any fighter at any weight class.
Spivac (15-3), who has seven knockouts and six submissions among his 15 career victories, has won two in a row and five of his last six. He most recently fought in August, defeating Augusto Sakai by second-round TKO.
How to watch the fights
Stream all of the fights on ESPN+: Download the ESPN App
Don’t have ESPN+? Get it here.
There’s also FightCenter, which offers live updates for every UFC card.
Saturday’s UFC fight card
ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET
Heavyweight: Derrick Lewis vs. Serghei Spivac
Light heavyweight: Ion Cutelaba vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
Heavyweight: Chase Sherman vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta
Welterweight: André Fialho vs. Muslim Salikhov
Welterweight: Jack Della Maddalena vs. Danny Roberts
ESPN+, 1 p.m. ET
Men’s flyweight: Charles Johnson vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
Women’s flyweight: Jennifer Maia vs. Maryna Moroz
Men’s bantamweight: Vince Morales vs. Miles Johns
Men’s bantamweight: Kevin Natividad vs. Ricky Turcios
Strawweight: Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Maria Oliveira
Men’s bantamweight: Brady Hiestand vs. Fernie Garcia
Women’s flyweight: Natália Silva vs. Tereza Bleda
Ian Parker’s betting tip
Lewis has to land and he has to land early if he wants to avoid the pacing and takedown attempts of Spivac. I think Lewis also has to be cautious with the amount of punches he takes as well, as Spivac does carry power in his hands. Spivac is coming off two straight KO wins over fighters with similar fight styles as Lewis.
For Parker’s suggested bets on the main event and other fights on Saturday’s card, check out the ESPN+ expert picks and best bets article (link below). It also features analysis by Fortis MMA head coach Sayif Saud and ESPN’s other betting expert, Reed Kuhn.
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