Elves Brener

The pick follows immediately after "I could be wrong" (quote, 4 words) and "I'm not really sure", with the analyst favoring the opponent in grappling just before picking Brener.

A good, forward-pressing striker with high pace, solid knee strikes and underrated durability, now moving up to welterweight where he is expected to have a size/reach edge. He is a decent grappler with good footwork/hooks and elbow-heavy ground-and-pound and sweeps, though he is not strong at taking fights down himself and is described as largely lost if an opponent gets to his back.

repeats 'Rivich is the pick' twice on the strength of expecting more output on the feet, but frames the whole fight as one he 'doesn't really like' having to pick, expecting fireworks either way.

Brings steady pressure and real volume on the feet, plus knees to the midsection that stand out, and he's simply hard to hurt. His grappling side grades out solidly too: trip takedowns off the clinch, a sweeping game, ground-strike elbows and an armbar he's comfortable chaining directly out of a sweep attempt -- the one gap is getting takedowns once the fight is away from the clinch/fence. He can sustain a heavy workrate deep into a three-round fight.

Invokes the root-beer idiom and separately tells viewers to skip wagering and simply watch this one; per the standing wager-caution rule that specific combination sets confidence to coinflip even though he still names Orolbai as his pick.

Brener is solid in jiu-jitsu with good sweeps off his back, good ground-and-pound elbows on top, a real armbar threat, and takedowns from the clinch via trips when he can get there. On the feet the analyst calls him probably the better pure striker of the two, with good forward pressure, volume, and standout knees up the middle, plus extreme durability and cardio that hold up.

He states outright that this 'has to be the pick', repeating the commitment a second time; no hedge on the win itself, only a brief search for the right descriptive label for him.

Described as a submission-minded grappler who stays active off his back, hunting the armbar once he gets hold of an arm, and capable of heavy ground-and-pound and knee work once on top. His clinch game is highlighted as his best avenue for getting the fight down, but his striking is rated clearly behind Kutateladze's, and he is on short notice for this bout.

States Tukhugov wins and calls him the better fighter overall; repeats the pick a second time moments later. No hedge on the winner itself, only on which man is physically stronger. Odds are a lopsided ~-580/-600 favorite, consistent with his read. No late reversal (rule 3f): the pick is stable start to finish.

Stepped up to 155 as a late replacement, a short-notice booking. Very capable on the mat -- solid BJJ, actively hunts submissions and is aggressive chasing them. Good Muay Thai on the feet, but his striking defense is called terrible; analyst worries the short-notice aggression could make that worse. Analyst actually favors him physically (calls him the stronger man and gives him a Muay-Thai/BJJ edge) but still picks the other man as the better fighter overall.