Sean Strickland vs Dricus du Plessis Everybody was shocked when Strickland upset Adesanya. I wasn’t. Adesanya doesn’t have the top of the scale 80 grade striking that the narrative says he has. What I was surprised by was that Strickland got better. Adesanya does have 75 striking for sure....
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Ankalaev vs Walker 2, Kape vs Nicolau, Miller vs Benitez Fight Picks – January 13, 2024
Magomed Ankalaev vs Johnny Walker 2 I was thinking maybe Smith’s striking was starting to regress going in to his fight with Ryan Spann. Everybody saw it as a coin flip fight. Then Smith out strikes Spann 90 to 50. Wow. So Smith’s striking hasn’t gone anywhere. Is still...
Edwards vs Covington, Pantoja vs Royval 2, Thompson vs Rakhmonov Fight Picks – UFC 296 – December 16, 2023
Leon Edwards vs Colby Covington The difference between the second Edwards vs Usman fight vs the third one is fascinating. You can obviously see in the third fight, Usman isn’t the same guy. Lacked confidence. Wasn’t able to bully Edwards. Most tangibly speaking, Usman didn’t seem to have the...
Song vs Gutierez, Smith vs Rountree, Su vs Nascimento Fight Picks – December 9, 2023
Yadong Song vs Chris Gutierez Ok. Once and for all, Gutierez’s striking is a 70. He out landed Heili Alateng 110 to 38. I was blown away seeing Song have the ability to stuff most of Simon’s take downs. Wrestling is a 75 now. Also had Simon’s striking a...
Dariush vs Tsarukyan, Turner vs Green, Figueiredo vs Font Fight Picks – December 2, 2023
Beneil Dariush vs Arman Tsarukyan Despite Dariush being knocked out by Charles Oliveira in his last fight, I can’t ignore his fight before that, against Gamrot. I know Gamrot has 70 striking. And Dariush out struck him 52 to 29. As much as my knee jerk reaction to picking...
Allen vs Craig, Morales vs Matthews, Hooper vs Leavitt Fight Picks – November 18, 2023
Brendan Allen vs Paul Craig Craig looked great in his 185 lb. debut, although I think him knocking out Muniz on the ground had more to do with Muniz gassing out than Craig’s grappling being a 75. I’m very confident Silva has 70 striking. I’m confident Allen has 70...
Prochazka vs Pereira, Aspinall vs Pavlovich, Dern vs Andrade Fight Picks – UFC 295 – November 11, 2023
Jiri Prochazka vs Alex Pereira Once and finally for all, I’m convinced Blachowicz has 70 striking and 70 wrestling. The wrestling was close to a 65 in the Magomed Ankalaev fight, but there’s no way Pereira’s wrestling is worse than a 65. Pereira’s 75 striking grade at middleweight carried...
Lewis vs Almeida, Bonfim vs Dalby, Nascimento vs Mayes Fight Picks – November 4, 2023
Derrick Lewis vs Jailton Almeida This fight is pretty straight forward. Lewis is going to have one shot at the start of the fight to knock Almeida out. And he could, he might. He has a chance. But if he swings and misses, Almeida takes him down and will...
Tavares vs Romious, Zenidim vs Lima, Matthews vs Farias Fight Picks – Contender Series – October 10, 2023
Ramon Taveras vs Cortavious Romious I wish I was able to see more of Romious, but his fights recently end so quick. I really like his hand speed. Striking could be as high as a 65 if he has the cardio to push the pace for 15 minutes. And...
Makhachev vs Volkanovski 2, Chimaev vs Usman, Ankalaev vs Walker Fight Picks – UFC 294 – October 21, 2023
Islam Makhachev vs Alexander Volkanovski 2 I could be wrong with where I’ve graded Volkanovski’s skills at 155 lbs. But I think he beat Makhachev 3 rounds to 2 in their first fight. And I do think the wrestling is equal here. Yes, Makhachev had over 7 minutes of...