Serghei Spivac and Ante Delija meet on the main card of UFC Fight Night 267 on Saturday at Toyota Center in Houston. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.
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Last event’s results: 5-1
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UFC main cards, 2026: 11-5
Serghei Spivac vs. Ante Delija UFC Fight Night 267 preview
Spivac (17-6 MMA, 8-6 UFC) aims to get back on track after back-to-back losses, making for a rough 2025 campaign. Last January, he was stopped in the first round by the recently-released Jailton Almeida, and then lost a decision in June to the surging Waldo Cortes-Acosta. Spivac’s last win was a first-round submission of Marcin Tybura in August 2024.
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Delija (26-7 MMA, 1-1 UFC) will look to get back in the win column after a fight he thought he won, but ended up losing. His fight in November against Cortes-Acosta featured a controversial stop and restart, resulting in a first-round loss. Prior to that, Delija won his UFC debut by finishing Tybura in the first round.
Serghei Spivac vs. Ante Delija UFC Fight Night 267 expert pick, prediction
Death, taxes and the UFC matchmakers force-feeding us heavyweights on Fight Night cards.
This week, we (hopefully) have a fight between Serghei Spivac and Ante Delija that should be more exciting than Jailton Almeida’s lackluster fight opposite Rizvan Kuniev on the last card.
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Spivac is one of what feels like three heavyweights on the UFC roster who can competently grapple, so that automatically makes him a live underdog. In fact, if this fight were taking place in the smaller octagon of the UFC Apex, I’d probably pick Spivac to win outright.
The potential problem, however, is that Spivac shares the glass cannon-like sensibilities of many fighters on this card, making him a difficult product to trust. Add in the fact that the Moldovan has traditionally struggled against powerful athletes, and I can’t help but lean toward Delija to redeem himself after the Nevada State Athletic Commission and onsite officials botched his last fight.
The official pick is Delija by knockout in Round 1.
Serghei Spivac vs. Ante Delija UFC Fight Night 267 odds
The oddsmakers and the public slightly favor the Croatian fighter, listing Delija -142 and Spivac +116 via FanDuel.
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Serghei Spivac vs. Ante Delija UFC Fight Night 267 start time, how to watch
Spivac and Delija are expected to walk to the cage at approximately 9:10 p.m. ET. The fight streams live on Paramount+.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Houston: Serghei Spivac vs. Ante Delija prediction, start time