Roman is tough and I don’t see him being KO’d here. He’s also a very good striker so I don’t see him being completely overwhelmed. If I didn’t see Ateba fight a full 15 minutes with Andrey Pulyaev, I’d be more concerned. Not that Andrey is any good, but I now know that Ateba has 15 minutes of cardio and won’t death gas. I don’t think Roman can handle the speed and power of Ateba. Even if he wants to wrestle, Ateba should be able to defend and fire back. So Ateba is the pick and even though I am comfortable with that pick, it’s not lost on me that Roman is 100x better than anyone Ateba has fought so far.

Roman Kopylov

Roman Kopylov is a very good kickboxer with professional experience. He picks his shots well before settling in and weaving together nice combinations. He is 6-5 in the UFC and for the most part beaten everyone who couldn’t take him down. He is a much better offensive fighter than a defensive fighter and you can see that in his negative striking differential. He is coming off the bounce back win over Marco Tulio.

Ateba Gautier

Ateba Gautier is a nasty striker with incredible speed and power. He does a phenomenal job mixing up boxing and kickboxing. He with throw to the head and body, he will light up your guard and then start firing kicks off combinations. He is very dangerous with not only 9 finishes, but 9 early finishes. He is a freak athlete and a comes out hot, but like so many others, that flame tends to die down as the fight goes on but he doesn’t death gas and has a very good chin. He is coming off the KO win over the very KOable Ozzy Diaz.