Davey Grant and Elijah Smith meet on the UFC Fight Night 293 main card at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.
- Last event's results: 3-2
- UFC main cards, 2026: 122-76-1
Davey Grant vs. Elijah Smith UFC Fight Night 293 preview
Grant (16-8 MMA, 9-7 UFC) will look to keep the momentum going after a unanimous decision win over Adrian Luna Martinetti in April – which was a successful bounce back from a first-round submission loss to Charles Jourdain last October.
Smith (10-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) enters on an eight-fight winning streak. He's finished his last two UFC opponents, Toshiomi Kazama and SuYoung You, and has three other stoppages on his current run.
Davey Grant vs. Elijah Smith UFC Fight Night 293 expert pick, prediction
Filling out the main card is a potential banger at bantamweight between Davey Grant and Elijah Smith.
Grant, who is no stranger to being on the wrong
side of the age gap at 40, finds himself facing yet another young up-and-comer in Smith.
Smith may only be 24, but the American prospect comes from a solid wrestling background and fighting family to boot. However, despite Smith scoring an emphatic club-and-sub being the most likely outcome of this fight on paper, I have a sneaky suspicion that Grant is a bit more live than the betting lines suggest.
Aside from the experience gap being largely askew in the Englishman's favor, Grant has spent the past few years training with and coaching names like Merab Dvalishvili and Aljamain Sterling in Las Vegas. And since moving shop to Syndicate MMA, Grant seems to be only getting better with age.
Unless Smith can find a way to stop Grant in the first half of the fight, I see the English fighter's pace and tricky submission acumen paying dividends down the stretch. It's not a confident pick, but I'll take a flier on Grant's activity to earn him a split-decision win.
Watch UFC Fight Night 293 with Paramount+
Davey Grant vs. Elijah Smith UFC Fight Night 293 odds
The oddsmakers and the public favor the American fighter, listing Smith -310 and Grant +240 via FanDuel.
Davey Grant vs. Elijah Smith UFC Fight Night 293 start time, how to watch
Grant and Smith are expected to walk to the cage at approximately 9:40 p.m. ET. The fight streams live on Paramount+.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Davey Grant vs. Elijah Smith prediction, pick, start time, odds for UFC Fight Night 293
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