If Charles had more forward pressure, I'd be all over him here. Because I think he is the better striker. The problem though is that he takes the first round off and even then doesnt pick it up in the second. Whereas Asu is moving, shooting, throwing and scoring well with the judges. Asu looked terrible in his last fight because of the in your face style of Alex Perez but fortunately for him, that is not how Charles Johnson fights. Charles pot shots on the outside and especially overseas, I don't see judges scoring a fight like that for him. Asu is the pick, but full rooting for Charles. First of all, I just like him, he's a cool dude, he's genuine and he has some really good wins, second of all, this weight class is a pain in the ass right now because outside of the top 4, we don't have anyone with any momentum, so Charles rattling off a few wins and having a KO over the current champ could be fun.

Asu Almabayev

Asu Almabaev is a flashy striker and a dominant grappler. He can control striking range and even work in spinning attacks before shooting big takedowns and controlling on top. He doesn't go looking for submissions but he does do a great job grabbing them in scrambles. He is strong, sets a nice pace and has plenty of cardio. He is coming off the submission win over Alex Perez in a fight that he was squarely losing before Alex shot a takedown and got his neck snatched.

Charles Johnson

Charles Johnson is a busy, technical striker with decent takedown defense and really nice hand speed. He has nice output at almost 5 significant strikes per minute and can keep that pace for 15 minutes. He is 8-5 in the ufc but all 5 losses are to quality fighters and the 8 wins are against young prospects, including the currently flyweight world champion Joshua Van. He is one of the more active fighters on the roster and is coming off a controversial win over Bruno SIlva where he had the striking numbers, but spent most of the fight defending takedowns against the cage.