Preview: UFC on ESPN 55 ‘Nicolau vs. Perez’

Light Heavyweights

#11 LHW | Ryan Spann (21-9, 7-4 UFC) vs. Bogdan Guskov (15-3, 1-1 UFC)

ODDS: Spann (-205), Guskov (+170)

It is nice to see that the UFC can have a sense of humor sometimes. Spann has carved out a niche in the UFC as a consistently entertaining fighter, even if that is not always positive for “Superman.” A physical specimen at 6-foot-5, Spann usually looks to get things going on offense in short order. Sometimes, that works immediately, and sometimes, Spann’s lack of defense gets him tagged in return, at which point things typically tend to speed up and get out of control until someone finds a finish. There are impressively quick wins over Ion Cutelaba and Dominick Reyes, bafflingly quick submission losses to Anthony Smith and Nikita Krylov and fights like Spann’s against Johnny Walker, which saw seemingly everything happen in the three minutes until the Brazilian found a finish. There was an odd amount of bad blood coming out of Spann’s fight against Smith in 2021. The UFC surprisingly decided to run the fight back in August for what wound up as a much more tepid affair, even if it did continue with Spann’s trend of offering a lot of offensive firepower with little defense. That ended in a Smith decision win that seemingly settled the rivalry, but now the UFC has decided to book the next best thing to a trilogy fight, as Spann takes on Uzbekistan’s Guskov, a fighter most notable for his resemblance to “Lionheart.”

Guskov is an interesting prospect who might not have the consistency to put together sustained success in the UFC, but he should continue to provide some highlights as a mobile power puncher with some fast hands. Volkan Oezdemir quickly ran over him in his late-notice UFC debut in September, but Guskov did an impressive job of rebounding, cracking Zac Pauga in quick and brutal fashion in February. Like most Spann fights, this should be a race to a finish. While Guskov certainly has the speed and power to land the first finishing blow, he has also looked uncomfortable when tested in a brawl, so Spann is probably the surer bet to find a finish in the chaos. The pick is Spann via first-round knockout.

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Nicolau vs. Perez
Spann vs. Guskov
Silva vs. Lipski
Diniz vs. Lane
Pearce vs. Onama
Medic vs. Means
The Prelims