• Alexander Gustafsson and Anthony Smith are two of the best light heavyweights on the face of the earth. The only problem with being a standout in the light heavyweight.
• Smith: Both fighters are coming into this fight off of a loss to Jon Jones, which isn’t really a blemish on either fighter’s record. However, before those opportunities, both of these fighters looked like two of the best in the world, which is why they were given a shot at Jones in the first place.
• Alexander Gustafsson vs Anthony Smith Betting Odds - UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Smith - June 01, 2019 - Live betting lines, fighter and matchup stats.
• Gustafsson wins in round 1; Any other result; Smith wins in round 2; Any other result; Gustafsson wins in round 2; Any other result; Smith wins in round 3; Any other result; Gustafsson wins in round 3; Any other result; Smith wins in round 4; Any other result; Gustafsson wins in round 4; Any other result; Smith wins in round 5; Any other result; Gustafsson wins in round 5.

UFC on ESPN 11: Gustafsson vs. Smith Picks
When: Saturday, June 1, 2019
Where: Ericcson Globe, Stockholm, Sweden
TV: ESPN+
By: Loot Levinson of Predictem.com

Alexander Gustafsson vs Anthony Smith Prediction & Betting Odds - UFC Fight Night 153. Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson (18-5-0) fights Anthony “Lionheart” Smith (31-14-0) in the main event at UFC Fight Night 153 in a Light Heavyweight bout on Saturday June 01 at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. There is a clear point of reference in comparing these two fighters in that they both had their.

Fight Analysis:

The 11th installment of UFC on ESPN features a crossroads light heavyweight bout, as two contenders battle it out to remain relevant in the 205-pound division. Alexander Gustafsson and Anthony Smith both tasted defeat the last time they stepped into the octagon. But it wasn’t just anybody who beat them, as champion Jon Jones turned back the challenges of both men. The winner of this fight would remain near the top of the light heavyweight rankings, while the loser would go further back in an ever-growing pack of contenders. Let’s see what we can come up with for Gustafsson vs. Smith!

Alexander Gustafsson, 18-5 (11 KOs, 3 Submissions), (-270) vs. Anthony Smith, 31-14 (17 KOs, 11 Submissions), (+210)

Alexander Gustafsson takes on Anthony Smith in a light heavyweight battle on UFC on ESPN on June 1. The locale of this fight is in Stockholm, which is in Gustafsson’s home-country of Sweden. There should be some nice support for Gustafsson, while this qualifies as a tough road-assignment for Smith. Both 205-pounders look to get back on the winning track to maintain their statuses as top dogs in the division. But each needs a big win to remain in striking positions. There is a lot on the line for these accomplished fighters.

They are similar in the sense that they are both elongated light heavyweights. Gustafsson is a towering six-foot-five, and dwarves most of his 205-pound opposition. But he won’t tower over Smith, who is a lanky 6’3.” But they are cut from different cloths. Gustafsson, 32, is a ten-year UFC veteran and a technical striker who is a classy-type of fighter. Smith, 30, has only been in the UFC for a couple years, following a long rough-and-tumble MMA career spent in the mid-west. He’s more of a blue-collar guy than Gustafsson.

For years, Gustafsson has been a prized UFC product, whereas Smith was overlooked. Smith started his career modestly, scratching and clawing to this point. He fought on small local shows and was still only 5-6 after his first 11 fights—not the typical beginning for a future UFC title challenger, that’s for sure. Fighting as a middleweight, he eventually moved up to light heavyweight and got on a nice roll. Smith went to Strikeforce in his first taste of the big-time, but three straight losses sent him tumbling. Later, he would join Bellator and continue fighting on smaller cards and a 7-fight win streak led to a spot on the UFC roster.

Smith started making waves when he won 4 of 5 after joining the UFC, though a 2018 stoppage to Thiago Santos again had him searching for answers. But then KO wins over ex-champs Rashad Evans and Mauricio Rua had people take notice, before a submission over Volkan Oezdemir led to his March 2019 challenge of Jones, where he was showed mettle, but was fairly non-competitive in a unanimous decision loss.

Smith is a hard guy to not root for, considering all he has overcome in getting to this spot. It takes a lot of inner-resolve to do things like turn around a struggling MMA career and last 25 minutes with the best to ever do it in Jon Jones. He’s a fairly-ruthless striker who uses his hands, feet, elbows, and knees. And those long limbs he has can snake around different body parts for submissions, namely chokes. He has 11 submissions to go with his 17 KO wins, as there are numerous routes to victory for the hardcore veteran.

Smith’s list of accomplishments still fall short of Gustafsson’s. He didn’t fare as well against Jones, losing by TKO in the third round and not able to be as competitive as he was in 2013 when he nearly beat Jones. Add in wins over guys like Thiago Silva, Rua, Jimi Manuwa, and Glover Teixeira and his resume is a bit better. But at 32 and with a checkered recent history, questions loom over his viability moving forward. Since 2013, he has fought just 7 times and while the opposition has been incredible, he is still just 3-4 over that stretch. And winning 3 times in 6 years isn’t going to get it done.

A blessed fighter in many ways, it’s fair to ask where Gustafsson’s career truly stands at this point. Injuries have been a constant thorn in his side, as his biggest opponent in recent years might be his own body. And those losses didn’t help. Sure, there was a split decision loss to champion Cormier where he didn’t lose stock and the first Jones fight where he was great. Along the way, however, there have been a few damaging losses, as he was wiped out against Rumble Johnson, before the TKO loss to Jones in his last fight. There have certainly been flashes of greatness, but injuries and the division being so strong at the top have prevented him from achieving clear-cut greatness.

Still, Gustafsson is as long as they come at 205, while bringing a combination of extreme skills into the octagon. He can strike very well and his wrestling is hard to stop. He isn’t taken down easily at all and was the first man to score a takedown on the champion Jones. At the end of the day, he’s the only fighter who really gave Jones a serious run for his money, as some still think he deserved the nod in their first fight. It’s just that the issues that have troubled Gustafsson don’t get better with time and added mileage.

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Still, Gustafsson’s back is against the wall and it would be hard for him to soldier on if he can’t defeat Smith. This is more of a crossroads for Gustafsson than it is for Smith. With Gustafsson, at his age with his mileage and injury-history, it’s just not feasible that he can work his way back to the spotlight if he loses this. I expect that urgency to resonate. I also expect talent to resonate, as Gustafsson has more tools in his belt than Smith. Sure, he’s also more of the delicate swan in this equation, but I see talent winning out here. I’m taking Gustafsson.

My Pick to Win: I’m betting on Alexander Gustafsson at -270 betting odds. His skills are harder to deny and while Smith is a tough out and more-bankable physically, he has never reached the heights that Gustafsson once occupied. And at the end of the day, talent speaks. And being close to home won’t hurt, either.

Who else wants $60 of FREE member picks & predictions?

After a seldom week off for the UFC, they take the Vegas-based cage act to Stockholm, Sweden for 153rd edition of their Fight Night series. Stockholm’s own and perennial light heavyweight division gatekeeper Alexander Gustafsson headlines the main card opposite for Anthony “Lionheart” Smith.

Anthony was the last man to challenge Light Heavyweight Champion Jonny “Bones” Jones. Unfortunately for him, he fell significantly short. The first round was fairly close but as viewers quickly realized, “Bones” was just feeling the powerful striker form Nebraska out.

Anthony’s nickname, Lionheart, was brought into question when he seemed to be slowly breaking throughout the fight and by the 4th round, he wasn’t making any effort to get off the bottom.

Easier said than done, yes, but Anthony had won numerous UFC fights after being hurt early on and eventually coming back stronger than when he entered the Octagon.

Potentially the same can be said of Anthony’s opponent Alexander Gustafsson whose psychological state has to be brought into question.

What is he still fighting for?

He has now 0-2 against the champion Jones and the second loss to “Bones” was quite conclusive to the question of who is the better fighter.

He’s too big for middleweight and, in my opinion, too small of a build for the heavyweight division.

Fighters aren’t mentally made to be okay with the fact that they are second best and Alex doesn’t seem to be one of them.

He has performed quite well on his home soil of Sweden, though, and taking into account both fighters psychological health, I would like to believe that Alex is in a better place.

More on how these two stack up on paper later on.

There aren’t a lot of huge names on this card but several interesting matchups involving some very good looking European prospects.

Let’s take an abbreviated snapshot of a couple of these fights, explore the main event a little more and check out the odds provided by the best UFC betting sites.

Makwan Amirkhani vs Chris Fishgold

Makwan is a Finnish fighter very proud of his Kurdish-decent and has one of the fastest KO’s in UFC history.

Here’s a shot of it.

Don’t blink!

Wow, I checked a few different videos and none of them were able to grab the normal in-Octagon view.

Gustafsson Vs Smith Predictions Football

For obvious reasons, I suppose, because it was so fast.

Poor Andy Ogle…

I would like to think Makwan’s opponent, Chris Fishgold, will be ready…at least for a flying switch knee right out the gate.

Chris is a 26-year-old Brit with an impressive pro MMA fighting record of 18-2.

He is currently 1-1 in the UFC with a TKO loss in his first fight in the promotion and a rear-naked choke submission win in his last fight.

The English haven’t always been known for their grappling prowess but as quickly as MMA is growing around the world, it’s only a matter of time before we see mixed martial artists rounding out their games even further.

Makwan has five fights under the UFC banner, all of which have been held in Europe, actually.

He is 4-1 and his last three fights have gone down in his opponent’s home country of England.

I like the more experienced and longer fighter in this matchup of unknowns.

Makwan will have 4 inches of reach on Fishgold and with his heartwarming story of escaping his birth country of Iran after the Iran/Iraq war and fighting on Scandinavian soil, I would think he is being set up for a win.

If the matchmakers wanted him to be tested instead of showcased, it wouldn’t be against an unknown 1-1 in the UFC fighter from England like Fishgold.

Chris has some ears on him, though, and I don’t think they came from Karate class. If he can get it to the floor, we will see Makwani’s ground game tested.

That may be why the betting line is even.

I’ll take the length, experience, and explosive fighting style of the Kurdish mixed martial artist.

Aleksander Rakic vs Jimi Manuwa

Jimi is a powerful Muay Thai striker from England with a filthy left hook who has been inside the Octagon with plenty of top ten talent including a loss to main-eventer Alex Gustafsson.

He has lost three fights in a row, however, two of them by knockout.

One of those KO’s was to Volkan Oezdemir whose opponent, Swede Ilir Latifi, pulled out of the co-main event for Saturday at the last minute due to injury.

I was really looking forward to that fight much more than any other contest on the card,
honestly!

Well, as the likely late great Forrest Gump once said: “It happens”.

I love Jimi and his fighting style very much. He was never able to really establish himself as a top five fighter, though. He would win a few and when it was time to step up the competition, he wasn’t quite there for whatever reason.

One stat this is rather impressive about Manuwa is his reach of 79 inches.

Okay, not too crazy when you think Jon Jones, but Jimi is only 6’1. Your reach is usually around the same measurement as your height. His is a good 6 inches more!

He will for sure need it against 6’6” Austrian fighter, Aleksander Rakic.

Rakic surprisingly will have a reach disadvantage of 1.5 inches albeit a leg reach lead of a quarter foot.

Rakic likes to kick so this may play into his favor. He will just have to watch out for the powerful counter of the highly adept Muay Thai technician Manuwa.

I would say that Jimi is a live dog here considering his crazy reach and heavy punches but I think his chin is gone or at least beginning to decline.

I would love to see the 39-year-old Manuwa put on a Muay Thai clinic and humble the young Austrian but when the chin is gone, it’s gone for good.

It’s a very sad but true fact.

Just check out this short docu on one of the UFC’s biggest superstars who really carried the company from the dark ages to the time of the Bonnar/Griffin fight that saved the promotion and maybe MMA as a whole.

I’m tearing up now just thinking about the heart of these warriors and how it can lead to irreparable damage that we can’t really see coming until it’s too late.

That leads me to my picks for this fight. I think the powerful Rakic finds Jimi’s chin early and invigorates the Stockholm crowd prepping them even further for the main event featuring their hometown “Mauler”.

Alexander Gustafsson vs Anthony Smith

I spoke already about the interesting and potentially detrimental psychological states of both main event fighters for Saturday night in Stockholm.

Now, let’s get to who is physically the better guy.

It’s Gus. He’s longer, maybe not strong but equally as powerful.

The difference for me will be speed.

As a wise man once proclaimed, it kills.

There’s also fight IQ. That doesn’t refer to what I mentioned in the introduction but, in my sometimes humble opinion, Gus has the edge.

I’m not saying Anthony is a dummy at all, but Alex is one of the most cerebral calculating fighters in the history of the UFC.

Anthony Smith could very well learn from his previous performance against the champ and said GOAT Jon Jones.

On the day of the fight, it will barely be 3 months since it happened, though, and Anthony has admitted openly that the loss shook him not only as a fighter but as a man.

Sure, you can learn but this rematch seems to be a little too soon for reflection. There has only been enough time to quickly move on because he’s fighting the second best guy in the division.

He is a live dog. I can’t lie. He can beat Gus. He has the powerful skillful striking to hang with the “Mauler” but I just don’t think he will.

In Conclusion

Even with the most intriguing and likely most exciting fight on the card being pulled last minute due to Ilir Latifi’s injury, I think Saturday should still be a fun one from Stockholm.

There’s a ton of young talent competing on this card with may of the oddsmakers left dumbfounded and putting out even odds on fights that may not should be priced as so.

I gave you one of those today as well as a favorite in Aleksander Rakic who should dispatch of the aging Jimi Manuwa fairly early.

Gustafsson Vs Smith Predictions Today

It’s very hard for a fighter who used to be able to take 20 good shots to the jaw before they dropped to get clipped one decent time and the fight is over.

Then they start thinking about their long-term health, their wife and kids.

They see other athletes potentially affected by CTE and the atrocities they’ve committed and they begin to think.

If Bruce Lee taught us anything, it’s that one must “feel” instead because as soon as you even begin to think, you’re already hit.

Get those bets in early, ladies and gentlemen and enjoy what should be lots of striking action from Stockholm, Sweden.