Cameron Smotherman

states he would be surprised if Asakura does not win and gives a real two-way mechanism (advantage standing and an even bigger advantage grappling), with only a brief nod to Asakura's lack of a UFC win so far

A good striker who much prefers standing exchanges and has an openly stated aversion to grappling; he opens cautiously but his output rises as the round goes on, with sharp feints, combinations, counters, power and accuracy. His grappling is secondary but his defense there is pretty decent, and he hustles to return to his feet whenever he ends up down.

Explicit 'could go absolutely either way' before the pick, a round-by-round split between both fighters (R1/R3 Turcios, R2 Smotherman), and a self-deprecating closer about looking 'really stupid' if wrong.

An accurate, powerful striker with good feints into combinations who is the more dangerous man on the feet once he gets going -- but he is a notably slow starter who needs time to find rhythm. Grappling is where he has real problems: a severe, repeatedly-stated aversion to it that leaves him visibly uncomfortable, with only decent takedown defense and a tendency to work back to his feet as his main answer. Analyst sees his path running almost entirely through keeping the fight standing.

The pick follows directly from a stated reason -- the analyst's read that Sidey is the more complete fighter -- with no softening of the outcome anywhere nearby.

A sharp boxer built on feinting into his shots, timing counters well, and carrying real pop behind precise punching -- praise the analyst stops just short of the top tier for. He has also been caught cold before, including a loss by stoppage a couple of years back, and the analyst notes real lapses on defense. He will scramble back upright rather than accept bottom position, because he wants almost nothing to do with the grappling game; he is also noted as someone who starts slowly more often than not.