Esteban Ribovics

He sides with Ribovics but says he would be happy either way and advises watching rather than betting -- his own root beer designation for a fight he does not want money on.

Pure offence with essentially no defensive component, and the analyst is unusually blunt that this is not an exaggeration: he jokes that he upgraded the striking defence from nothing to merely poor only because he thinks he once saw the man block a punch. What comes the other way is genuinely good -- power, comfort fighting from either stance, real combinations, and effective body work -- and he is tough enough to keep walking through return fire. The grappling follows the same shape: usable takedowns and some sweeps, but takedown defence that is not good and a body that can be controlled once it is down. The analyst names that as the blueprint against him, pointing to a recent loss where a grappler simply ran him over. Conditioning is a genuine asset; he has gone three hard rounds and still looked functional.

expects a close 29-28 either way

A climbing fighter about to get his first real test against a ranked name. Solid, powerful, switch-stance striker with good combinations and body work, but his striking defense is weak; the analyst explicitly upgraded his own read of it from 'abysmal' to 'poor' after seeing him block one punch. Durable enough to absorb that. A decent grappler with some sweeps (a Kimura sweep he favors) but shaky takedown defense, and can be held down once there; cardio is not viewed as a concern over three rounds.

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.

Seen as the marginally sharper striker of the two on offense, throwing well from either stance with real pop and solid combination work to the body, but his defense on the feet is basically absent -- he just walks into range and trades, relying on being hard to put away rather than hard to hit. His grappling follows the same all-offense-little-defense pattern: shaky takedown defense paired with his own decent takedowns, sweeps and kimura, and the same open-mat takedown gap his opponent has.

States it plainly twice ('I've got to take him', 'we're gonna go with him'); zero-defense style 'gives pause' but does not become a hedge on the win.

A solid, powerful striker who works both stances, works the body, and puts combinations together, but has essentially no striking defense and simply absorbs shots — durability the analyst calls elite-sounding. His wrestling is decent (mixes in takedowns, a kimura-sweep off the back) but his own takedown defense is shaky, and the analyst calls his whole approach 'all offense, no defense.'

He commits twice and names a real finish risk for his own pick (Ribovics could knock him out if he closes distance), but explicitly rebuts it with Zellhuber's shown durability rather than leaving it unanswered.

Carries a solid, heavy-handed striking game and is just as comfortable swapping stances mid-fight, with quality work to the midsection, yet his checking of incoming strikes is essentially nonexistent -- among the purest all-offense, zero-defense cases the analyst has come across. He wins almost entirely on toughness and gas tank, both rated highly. His wrestling is decent -- useful takedowns, good sweeps, a good kimura -- but his own takedown defense is weak, leaving him vulnerable to being pinned down on the mat. As of 2024-09-11.

He calls the matchup 'cut and dry' twice, back to back, with a stated mechanism (McKinney's power and head kick against Ribovics' openly atrocious striking defense and bad takedown defense) and no hedge anywhere on the win itself.

Strong hands with real pop, comfortable attacking the body and switching stances, but his own defense on the feet is singled out as among the worst the analyst has ever seen. Decent, tough wrestler who gets his own takedowns and has a reliable kimura, but once an opponent pins him flat he stays there; cardio is the trait expected to matter most if the fight runs long.

Says he feels pretty good about Ribovics twice, bookending a durability caveat (chin-check risk) and dismissing line movement toward Kirk as noise rather than a reason to switch.

Ribovics is the better striker of the two per the analyst, with power, stance-switching to open kicking angles, and combination work. His main grappling weapon is the Kimura, which he hunts from either top or bottom, using it for a sweep when he can't finish it. His takedown defense is average, but he showed he can scramble back to his feet in his last outing.

not very confident whatsoever, no strong read

A finisher with real knockout power who has never been to a decision; relied on submissions early in his career and now mostly finishes by knockout. His grappling has looked good, but only against lower-level opposition, and he has not faced the level of competition his opponent has.