UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs Spivak Predictions & Odds

• UFC Fight Night 218 takes place this Saturday, Feb. 4, at the APEX gym in Las Vegas
• Heavyweights Derrick Lewis and Sergey Spivak headline the card
• See the UFC Fight Night 218 Lews vs Spivak odds and picks for the main card

Derrick Lewis will try to maintain his grasp on a spot among the top 10 in the UFC heavyweight rankings when he takes on Sergey Spivak in the main event at UFC Fight Night 218. Lewis remains pegged at No. 7 in the rankings despite losing his past two fights, while Spivak has rocketed to No. 12 after claiming victory in five of his past six octagon appearances.

With the card stacked with fighters hailing from Asia, UFC Vegas 68 is scheduled to accommodate an Asian television audience. Accordingly, prelims get underway at 10:00pm ET on Saturday night at UFC APEX in Las Vegas. The main card follows at 1:00am ET, with all the action available on ESPN+.

UFC Vegas 68 Odds

Odds at DraftKings Sportsbook as of January 31, 2023.

Sergey Spivak has emerged as a clear -225 favorite in the UFC ahead of his main event clash with Derrick Lewis, who lags as a +190 bet. Da Un Jung is tagged as a -240 chalk in his co-main event matchup with fellow light heavyweight Devin Clark, who is pegged as a +200 underdog.

Lewis vs Spivak Odds, Prediction & Best Bet

It was a difficult year for Lewis in 2022. The “Black Beast” closed out 2021 in spectacular fashion, tallying a first-round finish over Chris Daukaus at UFC Vegas 45 to set the UFC record for most knockout wins, but followed up with a pair of lopsided knockout losses to Tai Tuivasa and Sergei Pavlovich in two octagon appearances last year.

After falling to defeat in two of his first tree UFC contests, Spivak has found his groove. The 28-0year-old Moldovan finished each of his past two opponents, capped by an impressive second-round TKO win over Augusto Sakai last time out at UFC Vegas 59.

Lewis vs Spivak Stats

One of the most dominant power punchers in UFC history, Lewis finds himself at a crossroads entering Saturday’s main event. The Black Beast faces a huge challenge to avoid losing three in a row for the first time in his career after being outclassed in his 2022 losses to Tuivasa and Pavlovich.

“People aren’t taking me serious”

Derrick Lewis is disappointed in fans excitement for his return fight against Spivack on February 4th.

“It’s crazy because now I feel like while I’ve been taking my training camp serious, people aren’t taking me serious.” 

via @akshay_pallav pic.twitter.com/UlXyucgLEW

— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) January 25, 2023

While Lewis started strong against Tuivasa, executing a pair of early takedowns and outpacing the Australian on significant strikes, he quickly faded on his way to a second-round defeat. Lewis then followed up with arguably the worst performance of his career in last summer’s date with Pavlovich, landing just four total strikes before getting finished just 55 seconds into that contest.

Lewis vs Spivak Recent Fights

Spivak has enjoyed a steady rise up the UFC heavyweight ranks during his current 5-1 run. However, the case can be made that his recent success has come against inferior opponents; or at least opponents inferior to Derrick Lewis. Among the fighters “Polar Bear” has topped are 45-year-old Alexey Oleynik, and former NFL bad boy turned failed UFC fighter Greg Hardy. And his most recent victory came over Augusto Sakai, to whom he handed his fourth straight knockout defeat.

Sergey Spivak takes out Greg Hardy in two minutes to open up the #UFC272 main card ⏰

(via @ufc) pic.twitter.com/BL4AiG3kc1

— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) March 6, 2022

Indeed, Spivak found himself out of his depth in his lone defeat over his past six fights, lasting 2:30 against current No. 6 heavyweight Tom Aspinall while failing to land a single strike in their date at UFC Vegas 36 almost 18 months ago. While Spivak has youth and momentum on his side, he has yet to prove his ability to win against an experienced and skilled fighter of Lewis’ caliber.

Pick: Lewis to Win by KO/TKO/DQ (+240)

Jung vs Clark Odds, Prediction & Best Bet

Da Un Jung hit a major roadblock in his bid to crack the UFC light heavyweight rankings last time out. After going undefeated in his first five octagon appearances, Jung saw his night ended by one punch just 3:13 into his date with Dustin Jacoby last summer at UFC Long Island.

The question now is how the 29-year-old Korean will respond. Jung sports impressive punching power, with 11 of his 15 career wins coming by knockout, as well as knockdowns recorded in three of his past five contests. When given the opportunity, Jung is also effective at level changes, but enjoys more success fighting on his feet.

Jung vs Clark Recent Fights

Clark saw his return to the light heavyweight division spoiled with a third-round TKO loss to Azamat Murzakanov last summer at UFC San Diego. However, to Clark’s credit, it is amazing his tilt with Murzakanov lasted so long considering the beating he took while being outstruck by a wide 79-14 margin.

That extends a trend that has seen “Black Bear” badly beat up or quickly submitted while losing three of his past four outings. And while he may be able to withstand a lot of punishment, it it tough seeing him keep pace with Jung, who averages a respectable 4.05 significant strikes per minute so far in his UFC career.

Pick: Jung to Win by KO/TKO/DQ (+120)