Spann/Smith - Spann, very steady, measured approach, wants to slowly work his way in with the jab and the threat of the level change and ideally back his opponent to the cage where he can fall into the the exchange and clinch or grab a body lock or drop to the hips. Strong cage push, strong clinch, slightly less effective takedown game against the cage, can be stalled here by a wide base and waste energy. Heavy lead leg, and doesn't do much to address low kicks, boxing defence is very patchy but does look to be improving fight to fight. Gets caught with counters, gets caught coming out of exchanges too often, but shows a solid chin and will reset and return to his game. Good composure. Effective half guard game, good elbows from top, looks for arm triangles too, does occasionally pass to mount but really seems more effective and less likely to lose position if he holds half guard. Starts rounds with a bounce in his step but this quickly disappears and he's naturally a plodder, slow moving slow hands but can explode in spurts and looks very dangerous when he does, again measured when he unloads, 5/6 punch combination but will pull back if he doesn't see the finish coming, very gas tank aware. Poor takedown defence, especially if his opponent is fresh, and once on his back he is usually staying there a while, he's responsible on bottom and can occasionally sweep but it rarely happens quickly. First line of defence for takedown attempts is a front choke, loves the front head lock series in general, very good high elbow guilly, will look for this often, has darce attempts, anacondas too. Sometimes holds onto these attempts too long, burns his arms out and ends up in a bad position for it. Definitely a work in progress, needs to increase the volume and variety of his striking approach, which their are glimpses of, flashed a low kick, started to use the front kick more too, and the odd high kick but favours boxing.
Smith - Works the jab well, doesn't rush his work, even if he is leading and pressuring he will just remain consistent with the pressure it doesn't ramp up. Good sense of distance and range, finds a way to hang around just half a foot or so out of his opponents boxing range boxing range, and times his punches well from there. Lots of jabs, some winging right hands here and there, low kicks, front kicks, a good variety of strikes over all and throws from more angles. Likes to lead and work his opponents back to the cage and then keep the pressure on from there, cuts the cage off well, doesn't follow but controls. Can react badly to damage and will shell up and and show he's hurt, if the fight starts to slip away or he feels he's not finding a way into the fight be will shut down and become defensive and ready to be finished. Very experienced but also shop worn, if still durable, he is prone to occasionally just taking a bad punch or kick and getting badly hurt. Can be pushed to the cage and controlled there for stretches, shows decent TDD but when he is taken down he can be held down, looks to get butterflies from the bottom and create space but if this doesn't happen quickly he will settle on bottom and just close guard, does have a submission game from the bottom but not aggressive with it. Good from the back, hooks in, flattens opponents out and looks for chokes/GNP. Takes a while to warm up, likes to paw with the jab, make reads and gather information and then the out put and strike variety builds from there, once he has a rhythm he doesn't give opponents a break, can lul you into his game if you allow it. Lacks some physicallity, he's not a physical freak at LHW, not explosive or particularly fast over all and can be out muscled in spots.
I expect a fairly slow pace building fight, cage push and clinch heavy, with occasional breaks for flurries. May come down to a test of endurance, but close rounds could be decided by single flurries or takedowns. Favour Spann to use his physicallity and strength.
Like Spann ML, like over 2.5, Spann sub at crazy prices, Smith decision at crazy prices.