Dricus Du Plessis

"really torn on this"

An awkward, almost clumsy-looking striker whose output lands anyway: he presses forward constantly, throws in bunches with real pop, strings together effective combinations, and has a chin that has proven durable under fire. His ground game is deeper than his most recent showing suggested: capable takedowns of his own, heavy top-position striking, reliable front chokes, and sweeps against anyone besides the one opponent who most recently beat him. He also imposes a chaotic rhythm that wears down even well-conditioned opponents and finishes with intent once someone is hurt. The central question the analyst keeps circling back to is how he responds after losing the belt.

says he's 'gone back and forth' repeatedly and admits he 'doesn't really know' right before naming the champion

Praised mainly for an unusual, flurry-heavy pressure style that is awkward to prepare for yet still lands with real authority -- enough that most of his fights end before the scorecards are needed. On top, his wrestling and top game (forceful takedowns, heavy ground strikes, sweeps, chokes) round him out. What the analyst keeps coming back to, though, is his relentless tempo and finishing mentality -- he is always hunting the stoppage.

He discloses that he picked against DDP before and 'felt stupid for it', then says 'maybe I'm wrong' again here -- an explicit admission of uncertainty alongside the pick for Strickland.

DDP (explicitly confirmed by his own initials on-air) is a good, forward-pressure striker with power, volume and flurries -- often out of position but effective anyway -- durable, and unorthodox in a way that causes opponents problems; he gets hit a good amount but his grit carries him through it. His grappling is called very good: powerful takedowns (he put Strickland down six times in their first fight), heavy ground-and-pound, good sweeps and an excellent front-choke series. The analyst rates his killer instinct as top-tier, specifically contrasting it with Strickland's.

Double-commits with no hedge on the outcome: 'I'm going to go with... Du Plessis... to retain his championship' and, moments later, 'I'm taking Du Plessis to be the middleweight champion.' He concedes Adesanya would likely win a pure kickboxing match but resolves that decisively once MMA and Du Plessis's ability to mix martial arts enter the picture, adding momentum, Adesanya's layoff, and Du Plessis's finishing instincts as independent supporting reasons.

Not remotely a slouch on the feet -- a solid, high-volume, powerful striker who comes forward relentlessly in flurries and crisp combinations, and is 'tough as heck,' having taken clean shots on the chin and kept coming. His real added dimension is grappling: powerful takedowns, heavy ground-and-pound, good sweeps, and a front-choke arsenal the analyst likes (shown more on the regional scene than in the UFC so far) -- and the analyst argues the mere threat of that grappling is what opens up his own striking against a dangerous counter-striker. He has good pace and a real killer instinct, finishing most of his fights.

He self-rates this directly as a low-confidence pick, though not the single lowest on the card (that is jourdain_vs_woodson). He opens the breakdown saying he'd rather just watch as a fan, reaches for the root-beer idiom, but does give specific reasoning: Strickland takes rounds four and five, the earlier rounds are a toss-up, and he sides with whoever owns the rounds he's sure of -- real mechanism, capped conviction.

Dricus Du Plessis is described as looking better than ever coming off his last fight -- cleaner, sharper combinations replacing a previously awkward flurry style -- with good forward pressure, real power, durability, solid grappling (good sweeps, excellent front chokes, heavy ground-and-pound), and a stated pace and killer instinct that the analyst credits as central to his success; his notable losses came early in his career against very high-level opposition outside the UFC.

Directly engages the strongest counter-argument (Whittaker's blitz vulnerability) and gives a specific mechanism for why it won't matter here (favoring the slip-and-counter style instead), concluding flatly that Whittaker takes this and that he doesn't see the fight playing out any other way.

Du Plessis brings a K1 kickboxing background into effective, if unpolished, striking -- flurries, forward pressure, power and volume. His grappling includes heavy ground-and-pound, sweeps from his back, and underused front chokes. His standout trait is durability and a pace that never drops, even visibly tired, which the analyst compares (as a less polished version) to Volkanovski's.

calls it a genuinely hard pick and admits he could still flip back

A fast-starting, high-forward-pressure striker whose striking is unpolished but effective in volume, backed by good grappling not yet tested against truly elite UFC-level competition. Genuinely durable -- an iron chin -- and has an unusual tell of visually looking tired while his output never actually drops.

Names Du Plessis but undercuts it directly, saying plainly he is not confident at all and that the other man wins comfortably if he shows up as his old self.

Wins by walking forward behind heavy volume and real pop in his hands despite loose technique. Has a usable grappling game from regional tape that he rarely shows in the UFC, has absorbed a great deal of punishment while continuing to come forward, and has won every one of his UFC fights so far doing exactly this. The analyst flags his own uncertainty about whether the gas tank behind that approach is genuinely elite or just makes him look tired.