Benoît Saint-Denis🇫🇷 (14-3) on the feet presses forward and slowly from Southpaw uses his jab in order to back opponents against the cage and open up takedowns or volume combinations that include powerful hooks, crosses, elbows, head kicks, front kicks, body kicks, and leg kicks. BSD's pressure is the most effective part of his standup but it's also the greatest flaw because of how slow he is, against good to great strikers he is very open to counters because of how irresponsible defensively he is when coming forward especially when he loops his hooks. Fighting from the Southpaw stance benefits his tendency to use his left against an orthodox stance fighter like Mauricio could increase his changes of landing tremendously even though he's at a huge technique disadvantage. BSD usually initiates the grappling first through the clinch, where he throws short punches and elbows, then uses his Judo background to look for trips or throws. He also chains together well-timed single or double leg takedowns to get opponents to the mat, then acquires mount or back control where he groups together ground & pound to make transitions and submissions easier. He's been training with BJJ practitioner Pierre Manzo specifically to get better at passing guard and taking the back which on top of his most recent performance against Prepolec makes me believe we'll get another grappling heavy version of BSD who will look to smother Ruffy so he can't set up his shots. Mauricio Ruffy🇧🇷 (12-1) maintains range well and patiently waits for openings to appear or switches stances then uses feints to create them himself so he can land fast combinations that include accurate and powerful straight punches down the middle, hooks, spinning heel kicks, front kicks, body kicks, flying knees, and leg kicks. Defensively, I do have to say that even though he's displayed good head movement, specifically shoulder rolling, his tendency to be too patient in moments can result in low volume and make him easier to hit. Ruffys takedown defense starts with trying to avoid shots entirely his quick footwork and consistent stance switching, which against BSD, will make his slow entries harder to land. When shot on, he keeps his hips low and maintains his balance with his solid sprawls and looks to punish failed attempts by landing on top and reigning down ground & pound. My concern is that we haven't seen him defend against someone who will chain together takedowns. My pick is Ruffy (DEC).