Brandon Moreno🇲🇽 (23-8-2) presses forward from orthodox forcing opponents to fight off their back foot using his lead jab and feints to set and open up his long volume combinations that include accurate straight rights to the head and body, left hooks to the head and body, body kicks, lead leg kicks, and counters. In the clinch he controls ties and gets underhooks and frames well against the cage lettting him dirty box or throw elbows and knees but he can also use his BJJ to jump on the back or go for TDs like trips. Pressure makes it easy for him to change levels and shoot but If he grapples I think it would be off of hurting Taira then looking to control from mount or half guard using ground and pound to open up chokes rather than fully shooting. Defensively, he uses footwork, underhooks, and sprawls well to stuff TDs, and off his back can sweep or scramble to reverse to top. It is very rare to control Moreno and I see that being a big factor in this fight. Tatsuro Taira🇯🇵 (17-1) throws accurate and powerful single shots like long straights, looping punches, knees after feinting takedowns, body kicks down the middle, and calf kicks. He is relatively low volume and aggression on the feet, which I don't like. He has okay footwork, but moves with little head or lateral movement, making him open to counters. He strikes to close distance and aggressively initiate the grappling through bodylocks or chaining together single and double legs. On top he has good control in full mount or side control, secured with heavy hip pressure then looks to transition to the back and secure the rear naked choke or chains together front chokes, triangle chokes, or the armbar. In scrambles he moves at a high pace but is calm while reversing positions, maintaining them, and threatening with triangle armbars and armbars. Brandon has to be careful because Tatsuro can begin scrambles from even the most unlikely situations like from escaping sub attempts and just one lost exchange can lead to Taira securing position and winning a round off of his control. He isn't perfect though, his fight against Royval showed that against good takedown defense and scrambles he can be put on his back, in subs, or stranded on the feet without a gameplan. In this fight, I'm looking for improved overall movement, striking defense, offensive output, and guard work. Because of all the improvements needed my pick is Moreno by (DEC).