Chidi Njokuani

Picked against despite the analyst conceding he may well be the better striker, because the opponent's grappling gives him more routes to a win.

A Muay Thai striker with one weapon the analyst rates among the best in the sport: his body kick, which he calls the man's best tool and one of the finest anywhere. Around it he lands combinations mixing punches and kicks, can operate at range or close the distance to tie opponents up, and once tied up brings genuinely damaging knees and elbows. The elbows get particular attention -- long, slender arms give him a sharper cutting edge, and he opens opponents up badly enough to invite doctor stoppages. The grappling is the standing problem of his career and the analyst does not soften it, though he notes one quirk that follows from the same physique: those long arms slip under the chin easily, so his chokes arrive more often than his overall grappling would predict.

gives durability and a power-edge argument, then undercuts his own pick by calling the fight a toss-up

Our paraphrase: called the cleaner striker of the two, with a strong body kick, combinations that chain punches and kicks together, sharp slicing elbows, and real comfort fighting his way into the clinch, where his knees and elbows are described as nasty and his clinch work overall very good. His grappling is only decent, limited mostly to a sneaky choking game built off his long arms. The analyst's concern for him is that being the technically cleaner striker doesn't guarantee he wins every exchange, and separately notes his power now reads lower at this weight than it did a division up.

He commits to the pick but immediately reaches for the root-beer idiom without telling viewers to avoid the fight, which caps rather than erases his conviction.

Our words: among the top strikers at this weight -- a measured, shot-picking type who showed extra output last time out versus his norm, with a strong body kick and dangerous slicing elbows, plus a smooth transition from range into nasty Muay Thai clinch knees and elbows. His grappling is just okay -- he has a real submission threat through his long arms, but his overall night depends on his output holding up.

He calls Gooden the underdog pick on durability and staying power, predicting Njokuani starts hot and fades, but rates this himself among the weaker picks on the card and says he might just watch rather than bet it.

Muay-Thai-style striker now campaigning at welterweight after mostly fighting at middleweight (with a long-ago welterweight run too). Solid striking with excellent, devastating body kicks and cutting elbows, a strong transition from range into the clinch where his knees and elbows turn nasty. Grappling is decent, built on long arms that let him choke people.

He takes Njokuani specifically to finish early and spells out a live-bet hedge toward McKee if the fight gets past round one, even calling the later rounds a possible 'tossup' -- a real outcome-contingent hedge, not just a method/round note, which keeps this off a higher confidence tier.

Njokuani is a solid striker who comes out looking to finish early with absolutely devastating, powerful body kicks, and he transitions seamlessly between striking range and a clinch game built on knees and elbows. The concern raised is that if he does not finish fast, he fades and looks underwhelming going to decision.

Commits to a named winner and explicitly frames it as a value underdog play, paired with an admission that this is a genuinely close fight even though he has picked a side.

Carries a real reach edge and the longer range to land first if he uses it. His main weapons are excellent kicks to the body (front and roundhouse), plus good knee and elbow work in the clinch, with a stated gameplan to stay long or clinch rather than box in the middle. Decent Jiu Jitsu, helped by his own long reach on submission attempts. Defensively his wrestling is a real problem and his takedown defense is bad, though he does have decent takedowns of his own when he chooses to use them.

'I'm going to take [Njokuani]' is stated plainly and repeated at the close ('I'm taking [Njokuani]'); he raises a real cardio-fade risk (referencing a prior fight) but argues it away rather than hedging the pick itself, so this holds at clear rather than dropping to lean.

A solid Muay Thai striker with a height/reach advantage, praised for an excellent body kick, the ability to cut opponents open, and seamless combinations moving between range and the clinch, where his knees and elbows are devastating. His counter wrestling and decent BJJ round him out. The one real risk flagged is cardio over a long fight.

Coinflip on his own framing rather than on any judgement of mine. He calls the matchup a "close close fight" and invites the audience to "pick either of these guys" with his blessing. The pick itself arrives as an obligation — "you gotta pick one", which is what he says he is "here to do" — and he volunteers that he has "gone back and forth" on it a hundred times. Having named the side, he adds in the same breath that he "won't be surprised either way", which leaves the losing route completely open. On betting he is flatly negative: "i couldn't bet on this". The only thing he will commit to is METHOD, not winner — he expects one of them to be finished and points viewers at the inside-the-distance market for whichever side they prefer. A method conviction cannot raise a verdict grade, and a price remark about that market being "juiced to the gills" adds caution rather than conviction.

138 MMA cannot separate these two and says so several times before settling on Njokuani. The case he builds is a striking case: he grades Njokuani a good striker in emphatic terms, puts his Muay Thai at the top level, and admires a body attack that works equally well with kicks or with hands. Combined with a four-inch reach edge, that is enough for what he describes as the narrowest possible advantage on the feet — while he concedes the grappling advantage runs the other way. He notes a recent run of knockouts in the UFC and says the grappling has come on a long way, without ever grading it. Because neither man will accept a points fight he expects a finish, and his actual recommendation is the inside-the-distance market, not a side. He will not bet the bout himself.