Welcome to the hardest fight on this card to predict. I keep waffling back and forth. I tell myself that Paddy sucks and theres no way he will beat someone as tough as BSD. Then I'm reminded that he had way more success against Justin than Ilia did and frankly might be tougher than BSD. The problem here is that for Paddy to win, he needs to get the takedowns and I don't know if he will. BSD's takedown defense is solid and Paddy's offensive takedowns kinda suck. If BSD shoots first, then he ends up on top and wins this fight. Paddy has been taken down 15 times in 8 UFC fights and that is an unfortunate statistic for a matchup like this. I will full blown be rooting for Paddy because with a win we may get Paddy vs Ilia but I don't see it happening.

Benoit Saint Denis

Benoit st. Denis is a strong wrestler with well timed shots and a ton of pressure on top. He has 12 fights in the UFC with 26 takedowns which is impressive considering 11 of those fights ended in under 10 minutes. When he gets it to the ground he has very good pressure and works to submissions well. He has a ton of power on his feet which makes him dangerous everywhere, but he can be hittable. He is all gas, no breaks and has no quit in him. He is coming off the brutalizing of Dan Hooker.

Paddy Pimblett

Paddy Pimblett is a well rounded guy with a good amount of experience. He can be hittable because he tends to keep his chin high, but has very solid striking offense with a ton of volume. He's a very smooth grappler who flows well on the ground. He was famous for his physical transformations between fights but has dialed that and no longer shows up to camp looking like the fat bastard from Austin Powers. He is coming off the war with Justin Gaethje where he reminded us that Scousers don't get knocked out.