Seokhyeon Ko

He states plainly that Ko ought to win and calls it the most straightforward selection on the entire card, with no qualifier attached to the win itself.

A clean, mobile striker with a well-rounded grappling base whose only real flaw is an occasional habit of ducking his head and winging reckless shots.

"we're taking Cole" / "got the style to win"

A clean, technical striker who stays light on his feet, darts in and out, throws heavy volume including a heavy leg kick, moves his head well, and counters effectively. He has one odd, unexplained habit of occasionally abandoning his technical striking to dip his head and swing wild. On the mat he is a solid grappler with a very good sprawl that is hard to take down, good takedowns from the clinch and throws, solid top pressure and good ground and pound.

picks him to hand Smith his first loss, but names one specific bad habit of his own that could let Smith compete

Our paraphrase: nimble on his feet, slipping in and out of range while firing off repeated two-punch combos, mixing in a heavy leg kick, active head slips and strong body offense with real counters. The one recurring flaw -- every so often he abandons form and flails with his head low -- is explicitly why the analyst won't rate him any higher despite otherwise tidy output. His wrestling is a weapon on its own: a near-flawless sprawl, clinch entries paired with throws, control once on top, and effective finishing blows from there when he commits to it.

He directly answers the obvious recency-bias objection to Ko's price and rejects it, concluding he expects Ko to win the clock and possibly finish too -- no hedge on the win itself.

A good, fast, well-rounded striker -- darts in and out, light on his feet, builds steady one-two volume, good head movement, a heavy leg kick, solid body work and counters. The one thing holding him back from a higher grade: he occasionally abandons the clean technical approach to wing wild power shots, which opens him up to counters like head kicks and knees. Also a well-rounded, solid grappler -- good sprawl that makes him hard to take down, strong clinch takedowns and throws, and real top pressure with ground and pound. As of 2025-10-28.

Explicitly names this a tight, fun matchup and expects Ko to look the flashier, cleaner striker, but lands on Elliott's pace and grit for the nod.

The cleaner striker of the two: nimble on his feet, slips in and out of range smoothly, keeps a high output including a sharp 1-2, a heavy leg kick, solid head movement and body work, and real counters. His one flaw is a tendency to lower his chin and throw recklessly if a brawl gets him excited. His grappling is decent - a strong sprawl and the ability to land takedowns while clinched, particularly via throws - but the analyst thinks Elliott's pace and grit will still get the nod.