Can Rakic out-gun Smith, or is ‘Lionheart’ just too dangerous?

June M. Williams

Zane Simon & Connor Ruebusch return to breakdown this week’s event at Las Vegas’ Apex facility. With picks and odds for every fight on the card. From Anthony Smith vs. Aleksandar Rakic in the main event down to Sean B…

MMA VIVI, The MMA Viviesection, UFC Preview, UFC Picks, UFC Predictions, UFC Vegas 8, Smith vs Rakic,

June M. Williams

Zane Simon & Connor Ruebusch return to breakdown this week’s event at Las Vegas’ Apex facility. With picks and odds for every fight on the card. From Anthony Smith vs. Aleksandar Rakic in the main event down to Sean Brady vs. Christian Aguilera in the opening prelims.

This week’s UFC event has some serious name value heading into fight night in comparison to last week’s card. Top ranked light heavyweights Anthony Smith and Aleksandar Rakic meet in the main event. Former welterweight champion Robbie Lawler takes on Neil Magny in the co-main. And former title challenger Ricardo Lamas rounds out the action alongside Alexa Grasso and Magomed Ankalaev vs. Ion Cutelaba.

For those interested in diving deeper into the prelims, check out the Prelims Vivi below.

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Here’s a look at how the UFC VEGAS 8 card stacks up right now:

ESPN+ MAIN CARD | 9pm/6pm ET&PT
Anthony Smith vs. Aleksandar Rakic – At 5:25, Odds 19:42, Picks – Both: Rakic
Robbie Lawler vs. Neil Magny – At 21:41, Odds 30:49, Picks – Both: Magny
Ji Yeon Kim vs. Alexa Grasso – At 31:07, Odds 36:23, Picks – Both: Grasso
Ricardo Lamas vs. Bill Algeo – At 37:07, Odds 42:02, Picks – Both: Lamas
Magomed Ankalaev vs. Ion Cutelaba – At 42:27, Odds 46:12, Picks – Both: Ankalaev

ESPN/ESPN+ PRELIMS | 6pm/3pm ET&PT
Maki Pitolo vs. Impa Kasanganay – At 3:17, Odds 13:53, Picks – Zane: Pitolo, Connor: Kasanganay
Mallory Martin vs. Hannah Cifers – At 14:08, Odds 22:35, Picks – Both: Martin
Alessio Di Chirico vs. Zak Cummings – At 23:30, Odds 34:14, Picks – Both: Di Chirico
Alex Caceres vs. Kevin Croom – At 34:42, Odds 40:06, Picks – Both: Caceres (*Bout Fizzled since the show was recorded, now Alex Caceres vs. Austin Springer)
Polyana Viana vs. Emily Whitmire – At 40:27, Odds 49:15, Picks – Zane: Viana, Connor: Whitmire
Sean Brady vs. Christian Aguilera – At 49:36, Odds 55:06, Picks – Both: Brady

For those of you following the picks made on the show, we started tracking them with the July 13th Vivi for ‘Kattar vs. Ige’, so far the standings are: Zane went 45/74 & Connor went 50/74 – last week Zane went 5/6 & Connor went 4/6, unfortunately we had several bouts they made picks for that did not end up on the card.

Be sure to follow Zane on twitter @TheZaneSimon, follow Connor, @BoxingBusch, and follow @BloodyElbow for all the latest in MMA happenings. If you enjoyed our show, give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, or give us a “like” & share over on one of our other BE Presents Channels: SoundCloud, YouTube, iTunes & Apple TV, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, TuneIn, OverCast, or Player FM – whichever one happens to be your listening platform of choice. While you’re there, don’t forget to subscribe to Bloody Elbow Presents; that way you’ll always be the first to get all of BE’s daily MMA offerings. For previous episodes of the show, check out our playlists on all of our BE Presents channels.