Anthony Smith awarded narrow split decision victory in rematch with Ryan Spann at UFC Singapore
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to us today, August 26, 2023, for UFC Singapore, going down live from the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.
Headlining the event is a 145 lb affair between former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway (24-7) and former two-time title challenger Chan Sung Jung (17-7).
Our co-main event of the evening came in the light-heavyweight division between no. 8 ranked former title challenger Anthony Smith (37-18) and no. 10 ranked Ryan Spann (21-9), a rematch of their 2021 encounter.
Smith submitted Spann with a rear naked choke at 3:47 of round one the first time around; now 23 months later we got to see them go at it again. Since their first fight, Smith had gone 0-2, losing to Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker, while Spann had gone 2-1, defeating Ion Cutelaba and Dominick Reyes, before losing his latest appearance to Nikita Krylov.
Continue reading to see how this 205 lb co-main event of the evening went down:
Official Result: Anthony Smith def. Ryan Spann via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Smith begins effectively attacking the lead leg of Spann once the fight starts, buckling him every time he lands it. He also lands some solid right and left hands through the opening round. Smith ducks under a punch from Spann and puts him on his back midway through the round before Spann works his way back up and gets back to striking range.
Spann drops Smith with a nasty left hook in the second that badly swells his eye up, continuing to batter him from top position for 90 or so seconds. Smith works his way back to his feet however and gets back to his leg kicks.
After Smith takes the first round and Spann takes the second, the third and final round was quite close and relatively uneventful, neither man truly pulling ahead on the cards though Smith did slightly out-strike Spann in the final five minutes.
By time it was all said and done Smith had landed 78 significant strikes while Spann landed 77; in contrast, Smith out-landed Spann in leg kicks a whopping 34-5.
Anthony Smith gets back to his winning ways today at UFC Singapore, improving to 2-0 against Ryan Spann in the process.
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