Darrius Flowers

Names his pick but closes by calling the fight loaded with variables, after conceding a clear and largely unrebutted route for the opponent to win.

A good-stanced, powerful grappler whose takedowns and slams are genuinely hard to deal with, following up with strong ground-and-pound once the fight hits the floor. The analyst calls his overall toolkit limited next to his opponent's, but says what he does have, he executes well, and his clearest path to the win is landing a takedown and grinding it out.

The pick follows a deliberate stacking of reasons (opponent's travel burden, lack of main-event money/prep time, fast-start/fade tendency) that the analyst explicitly says he "coupled together" before declaring it favors Nueraji; no hedge attaches to who wins, only to how/when it ends.

Opens fast but is expected to tire from there; a decent striker overall yet a genuinely good heavy-handed brawler carrying real pop and some basic boxing. Decent grappling and good wrestling, with powerful takedowns and slams -- the skill that got him into the UFC -- plus good ground-and-pound once grounded, which the analyst calls his best road to the win.

expects him to cruise

As of 2026-03-29, graded decent on the feet with modest punching power, and his ground game (also decent) leans on powerful takedowns and slams -- a slam finish on the Contender Series is what earned him his UFC spot. He opens fast, then fades physically and his output tails off.

Says outright he does not feel good picking Johnson even while rating him the better fighter skill for skill, and structures his actual betting plan around playing both sides rather than fully trusting the moneyline alone.

12-6-1, in his second UFC fight after a short-notice loss. Our paraphrase: the analyst says he watched this fighter fight regionally before the UFC and rates him a decent, heavy-handed, forward-coming striker who starts fast and can fade if the fight is not finished early, plus a good wrestler with powerful takedowns and very good ground-and-pound.

Explicitly calls it "a little confidence pick" for Flowers, built on Matthews' inconsistency rather than a dominant edge; the round-one finish talk is hedged separately as a method guess.

Comes out hard from the opening bell trying to end things early, whether through his wrestling or his striking. He hits hard and backs up powerful takedowns with ground-and-pound once on top. He stepped in on short notice, which raises real cardio questions given a history of fading late, though the analyst thinks he can make that not matter if he gets the job done early.