How to Watch UFC Fight Night – Luque vs. Dos Anjos | Full Card, Channel, Stream, Preview

LAS VEGAS – MMA Junkie was on scene and reporting live from Friday’s official UFC on ESPN 51 fighter weigh-ins, where two middleweights missed their marks. In the main event, Vicente Luque (21-9-1 MMA, 14-5 UFC) takes on former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos (32-14 MMA, 21-12 UFC) at welterweight. Luque was first to the scale and was 170.5 pounds. Ex-champ dos Anjos came much deeper in the session and was 171.

Watch Live : Vicente Luque vs dos Anjos Live streaming Online

Two fighters missed weight. Middleweight Tafon Nchukwi (6-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC) was 3.5 pounds heavy for the middleweight non-title limit in his fight against AJ Dobson (6-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC). If the commission approves a new fight at a catchweight and Dobson agrees, Nchukwi will be fined a percentage of his purse. The same goes for Josh Fremd (10-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC), who came to the scale with 10 minutes left in the two-hour official window and was 3 pounds heavy for his main card opener against Jamie Pickett (13-9 MMA, 2-5 UFC).

The weigh-ins took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The same venue hosts Saturday’s event, which airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.

The full UFC on ESPN 51 weigh-in results included:

MAIN CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)

• Vicente Luque (170.5) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (171)
• Hakeem Dawodu (146) vs. Cub Swanson (146)
• Chris Daukaus (205) vs. Khalil Rountree (203.5)
• Iasmin Lucindo (116) vs. Polyana Viana (116)
• AJ Dobson (185.5) vs. Tafon Nchukwi (189.5)*
• Josh Fremd (189)** vs. Jamie Pickett (186)

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)

• JP Buys (136) vs. Marcus McGhee (136)
• Mike Breeden (156) vs. Terrence McKinney (156)
• Isaac Dulgarian (145.5) vs. Francis Marshall (145.5)
• Martin Buday (266) vs. Josh Parisian (266)
• Jaqueline Amorim (116) vs. Montserrat Conejo (113)
• Da’Mon Blackshear (136) vs. Jose Johnson (135.5)
• Juliana Miller (126) vs. Luana Santos (126)

*Nchukwi missed the middleweight limit on his first attempt.
**Fremd missed the middleweight limit on his first attempt.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 51.

Watch Live : Vicente Luque vs dos Anjos Live streaming Online

How to watch Vicente Luque vs. Rafael Dos Anjos

Date: Saturday, August 12
Fight time: Main card starts at 7 p.m. ET
Live stream: ESPN+

DraftKings Sportsbook Odds/Predictions

Luque: -105
Dos Anjos: -115

Splits: 61% of handle, 56% of bets on Luque

This will without a doubt be the best fight on the card and will be extremely close. If there is one disadvantage here is that Luque is returning to the octagon for the first time after having a year off. He’s won 52 percent of his bout via KO/TKO, so he will look to be aggressive in getting the victory. Dos Anjos has won 50 percent of his bouts via decision, so his strategy is to stretch things out. The slight edge will go to Dos Anjos, who hasn’t been off as long and also is a good all-around fighter. He will try and stretch things out, but look for him to get a couple of takedowns for a possible submission. He averages 2.05 takedowns per 15 minutes.

UFC’s most dependable welterweight finisher is set to face one of the promotion’s reliable veterans. Vicente Luque vs. Rafael dos Anjos headlines UFC Fight Night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

There are few fighters with the killer instincts of Luque (21-9-1). If he’s scoring a win inside the Octagon, it’s almost certain to be a finish as 13 of his 14 career wins have come via stoppage. Luque appeared to have hit a new gear with four straight stoppage wins between 2020 and 2021 — including submitting former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley — but subsequently found himself losing consecutive fights and getting knocked out for the first time in his career. The KO loss he suffered to Geoff Neal caused a brain bleed, forcing Luque to take a year off competition. That time off was well served and Luque is champing at the bit to show his growth as a fighter.

“People know I’m a great striker and I have dangerous submissions. I have toughness at a high, high level,” Luque told CBS Sports. “But I feel I still have so much skill to show. So many things that I’ve developed during this last year that I’ve been out. I’m excited to see and show everyone.”

Dos Anjos (32-14-1) is statistically the most battle-tested UFC veteran. RDA is the only fighter in UFC history to reach and exceed eight total hours of time fought inside the Octagon. A former UFC lightweight champion who also fought for the interim welterweight title, dos Anjos has been elite for a long time. Dos Anjos has fought nine world champions, beaten three of them and also holds wins over fan favorites like Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone. RDA regularly finds himself as the senior fighter but make no mistake, his ambitions are the same as his younger contemporaries.

“Here I am fighting another contender, a tough guy, younger than me,” dos Anjos told TNT Sports.

“I feel that I have a lot in my tank, in a polite way, my lightweight days are over. I want to compete at my best and my best is 170, and, of course, it’s hard not to think about the belt. I’m a very competitive guy and I like to win. Being a former champion and former title contender in this division — I’ve fought for the title before in this division — it’s a method of winning, I have a tough challenge this weekend… Vicente Luque is a tough guy, but once past him, if I keep winning, a title shot will happen.”