Darrick Minner

picks Minner as a sizable underdog but calls it only a small-stakes play, while repeatedly disclosing that the training-partner connection is likely swaying his judgment

A choke-focused grappler who averages roughly three takedowns per fifteen minutes with so-so accuracy but strong top control once there, and who the analyst calls a killer-be-killed finisher with most of his wins by submission, including one very fast finish of a well-regarded opponent. Striking is called all right, not the best, though better in volume than his opponent's. The analyst's central criticism is fight IQ: he says Minner has twice abandoned a winning ground-and-pound position to chase a low-probability submission, costing him fights he otherwise had. He discloses that Minner trains with a co-worker's training partner and says this personal connection is probably clouding his judgment on the pick.