Alvin Hines

Picked with a genuine caveat -- the analyst flags recent uncertainty about a performance-enhancer suspension as a real unknown before landing on him anyway.

A significant unknown heading in, given a period away tied to a suspension the analyst suspects may be linked to performance enhancers, which could affect the cardio he's previously been known for. Good striker with basic but effective combinations, deceptive kicks including a head kick, and good volume that works the body well. Pretty good grappler who reverses position well, has a decent sprawl, good ground strikes, and uses less common positions like the half-back and front headlock effectively.

He calls it a genuinely tough fight to pick, admits he's really struggling with this one, and lands on Hines only because of output/cardio while conceding that an early knockout loss for his own pick wouldn't surprise him at all -- an explicit, stated expectation that his own pick could lose in exactly the way the opponent is dangerous.

Hines, making his UFC debut, is read as the technically lesser striker but a heavyweight outlier for volume and cardio, with a good-enough, opportunistic grappling game (reversals, a live half-back/front-headlock position, solid ground-and-pound) even though his own takedowns are inconsistent. The analyst's whole case for him is that his output and gas tank are 'top tier for a heavyweight' and should take over by the third round.