Dricus Du Plessis🇿🇦 (23-2) on the feet presses forward and at a high pace implements a unique hybrid of southpaw and orthodox, constantly switching therefore disrupting opponents momentum and creating openings to land powerful flurries and combinations in volume that include jabs, straight punches, crosses, looping hooks, overhands, elbows, front kicks to the body, body kicks, and leg kicks. It's been difficult even for technical strikers like Whittaker and Adesanya to make reads and land on Dricus because of his pulling movement, but even when he gets hit, he's shown that he is durable. In the grappling offensively, he has strong takedowns, ground & pound, and front chokes, but I'm more worried about his defensive grappling in this matchup. DDP primarily looks to defend takedowns through keeping his movement consistent, and while staying low with a strong base, he can more easily sprawl and disrupt potentially even the great takedowns of Khamzat. When brought down, he stays calm and, from his back, uses a closed or butterfly guard to sweep or start a scramble. Regardless of his tendency to stay safe on the bottom, he can still be taken down by good to great wrestlers and put into bad positions that can cost him the fight this weekend. He was far too suseptible to single and double legs early against Brunson, and that resulted in him being mounted and controlled with his back taken, and he is no Chimaev. Khamzat Chimaev🇦🇪 (14-0) is a grappler but has okay striking, utilizing solid movement, specifically range control, closing distance, and his elite takedown threat to open up his stiff jab, straight punches, hooks, uppercuts, and body kicks. All of this is accompanied by his sneaky power. He normally initiates the grappling by feinting a 1-2, then shooting dangerously quick and well-timed takedowns that he can chain together low, then moving up to the bodylock and ripping opponents down. In this matchup, I also think it's important to mention he protects his neck very well when shooting. On the mat, he expertly controls legs and uses his hips and shoulders to secure opponents in positions like half guard and full mount on top. He then uses ground & pound in volume and great scrambles to transition to the rear naked choke, d'arce choke, and face crank submissions in his arsenal. He what visually appears to be an insanely tight squeeze as well. Defensively, he has good takedown defense. If DDP tries to shoot, I suspect it would end with Khamzat in a dominant position or threatening and possibly securing a front choke. Now I want to address a narrative going into this fight, I think the "Khamzat has the worst cardio" take is outdated and frankly just untrue. If Khamzat really is the kind of guy that if you survive the first round with he's done why didn't John Phillips and Gilbert Burns [who he won RD3 against btw] beat him when he was at his most drained at 170 past the first or why didn't he collapse against Usman when they went the full 15 minutes? It's because the take is nothing but a myth that was turned into a universal "truth" amongst the community that hasn't seen Chimaevs adjustments in real time. He showed improved patience/pace on the ground against Whittaker, he was looking to secure positions and wasn't just chasing the finish so I'm expecting the most dangerous Khamzat we have ever seen at 319 who isn't just looking to bulldoze. I'm picking Chimaev by submission in the first 2 rounds or decision.