A total of 12 fights hit the octagon on Saturday, June 1, for UFC Fight Night 153, a daytime event in the USA with a 10 a.m. ET start for the preliminary card and 1 p.m. ET main card from Stockholm, Sweden. It’s especially huge for the UFC light heavyweight rankings, as three of the 12 matchups feature that weight class, including the two most-anticipated matches. The main event features the No. 2 contender to the UFC light heavyweight championship, Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson (18-5), competing in his home country against No. 4 Anthony “Lionheart” Smith (31-14) of the U.S. The winner of the match may get another shot at champion Jon “Bones” Jones — each is coming off a loss to the champ — while the loser may never get another chance at the belt. Gustafsson is the strong favorite in the latest Gustafsson vs. Smith odds at -330 on the money line (risk $330 to win $100), while Smith is at +280 (risk $100 to win $280). Before locking in your own UFC Fight Night 153 picks, you’ll want to check out the MMA picks and predictions from SportsLine MMA expert Kyle Marley.
Marley won the first-ever “ToutMaster” UFC betting contest sponsored by MMAOddsBreaker and appears regularly on multiple MMA betting and DFS shows. Over the past year, $100 bettors who have followed Marley’s picks are up over $22,000.
At UFC Fight Night 152, Marley called for an upset by Grant Dawson (+120), saying Dawson’s pace and wrestling ability could get him a surprise win over favorite Michael Trizano. Dawson choked out Trizano in the second round for a nice payout.
Three weeks ago at UFC 237, Marley advised SportsLine members that Alex Volkanovski (+120) would use his nonstop pressure to upset UFC icon Jose Aldo (-140) in a main-card featherweight bout. That’s exactly what happened as Volkanovski controlled the action from the opening bell, and Marley’s followers pocketed another easy winner.
At UFC Fight Night 151, Marley went a stunning 11-1 and netted $100 bettors nearly $1,000 in profit in a single evening. His selections included accurately predicting that Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (+110) would pull the upset of Al Iaquinta (-130) in the main event. Anyone who has followed Marley’s advice is way up.
Now, with UFC Stockholm fast approaching, Marley has carefully studied every matchup on the UFC Fight Night 153 card, identified the best value in the UFC odds and released his MMA picks for every single fight. He’s sharing them only over at SportsLine.
Marley knows that both Gustafsson and Smith see Saturday’s main event as a final opportunity to get back on track for a rematch with Jones for the title.
In March, Smith went toe-to-toe with Jones, arguably the best fighter in the world, in a unanimous decision, but Smith called his effort “embarrassing.” That ended a streak of three-straight wins against other contenders. He’s looking to get back on track against Gustafsson, who has lost twice to Jones, including in his last bout in December. Gustafsson had won 15 of 16 matches but has now lost four of seven, three of which were title bouts.
Marley has broken down the fight, considered the odds and is confidently all over one side of Saturday’s main event. You can see his Gustafsson vs. Smith pick at SportsLine.
One of Marley’s UFC Fight Night 153 picks that we can tell you: He’s backing Frank Camacho against Nick Hein in what looks to be one of the more evenly-matched bouts of the day.
On his feet, Camacho has the edge in significant strikes per minute and accuracy, and while Marley sees this fight going deep, he ultimately gives the nod to Camacho.
“I think this fight is going to go all three rounds,” Marley told SportsLine. “It is also at 155 lbs where I think Camacho has looked his best, instead of 170. He is taking it on short notice though, so that is a worry, but I still like him in this spot and I would have lined him as a slight favorite.”
Marley also has UFC on ESPN+ 11 picks locked in for Gustafsson vs. Smith and every other fight on this stacked card. Those UFC picks are only available at SportsLine.
Who wins dos Gustafsson vs. Smith? And how does each fight end? See the UFC Fight Night 153 odds below, then visit SportsLine now to see which fighters you need to be all over Saturday at UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Smith, all from the incomparable expert who’s up more than $22,000 in MMA bets in the last year.
UFC on ESPN+ 11 card
Main Card
Smith vs. Gustafsson (-330)
Manuwa vs. Rakic (-225)
Amirkhani vs. Fishgold (-115)
Gaigos vs. Hadzovic (-175)
Teymur vs. Sung (-150)
Prelims
Akman vs. Khandozhko (-190)
Lansberg vs. Evinger (-265)
Ray vs. Santos (-245)
Hein vs. Camacho (-110)
Santana vs. Malecki (-120)
Stosic vs. Clark (-125)
Belluardo vs. Alvarez (-125)
