Rob Font and Marlon Vera are mired in a deep lineup of contenders in the UFC men’s bantamweight division, each looking to separate himself from the pack. They have a chance to do so on Saturday when they meet in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas.
Font (19-5) was surging toward a title shot after defeating former champion Cody Garbrandt and onetime challenger Marlon Moraes, but his four-fight winning streak was halted in December by a loss to ex-featherweight champ Jose Aldo. Font is No. 6 in the ESPN men’s bantamweight rankings.
The 10th-ranked Vera (18-7-1) is coming off a big victory, a third-round KO of former lightweight champ Frankie Edgar in November. He has won eight of his last 10.
Saturday’s fights are at the UFC Apex, with the main card on ESPN and ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET and prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN at 4:30.
How to watch the fights
Watch the main card on ESPN and prelims on ESPN2: WatchESPN | TV schedule
Stream all of the fights on ESPN+: Download the ESPN App
Don’t have ESPN or ESPN2? Get instant access.
Don’t have ESPN+? Get it here.
There’s also FightCenter, which offers live updates for every UFC card.
Saturday’s UFC fight card
ESPN/ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET
Men’s bantamweight: Rob Font vs. Marlon Vera
Heavyweight: Andrei Arlovski vs. Jake Collier
Men’s featherweight: Andre Fili vs. Joanderson Brito
Lightweight: Jared Gordon vs. Grant Dawson
Men’s featherweight: Darren Elkins vs. Tristan Connelly
Middleweight: Krzysztof Jotko vs. Gerald Meerschaert
ESPN2/ESPN+, 4:30 p.m. ET
Men’s flyweight: Daniel Lacerda vs. Francisco Figueiredo
Heavyweight: Alexandr Romanov vs. Chase Sherman
Welterweight: Gabe Green vs. Yohan Lainesse
Lightweight: Natan Levy vs. Mike Breeden
Women’s flyweight: Gina Mazany vs. Shanna Young
Men’s flyweight: Tatsuro Taira vs. Carlos Candelario
Ian Parker’s betting tip
Vera, a notoriously slow starter, had to dig deep and come from behind to win his last fight against Edgar. So a five-round main event will be beneficial to Vera’s style, but against Font he will need to get going early. If Vera cannot get his calf kicks going, I think Font’s striking and, if the fight hits the ground, top control can present a problem for Vera.
For Parker’s main event pick and advice on other fights on Saturday’s card, check out the ESPN+ expert picks and best bets article on Thursday. It also features analysis by Ray Longo, lead coach at LAW MMA, and betting expert Reed Kuhn.
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