For whatever reason people have categorized me as a Joel Alvarez hater. But the reality is I can see him for what he is, a dangerous striker and dangerous BJJ guy with almost no defensive wrestling at all. The 2 biggest temper tantrums the community has ever thrown my way was when I picked both Arman Tsurukyan and Yaroslav Amasov as a 2-1 favorites to beat Joel. For whatever reason the Joel fans went nuts. Foaming at the mouth saying I am crazy. The reality is Joel got his shit pushed in both times, because he cannot defend takedowns and when he is on his back, he plays a BJJ game instead of working up. Luckily, none of that matters here because Chidi won't wrestle. If i look at this fight objectively I think Chidi is the much faster and more dynamic striker, but he is too hesitant. Joel at this weight has looked good so far and I think he can control the striking and potentially even work in only his second ever UFC takedown.

Chidi Njokuani

Chidi Njokuani is a very good striker with speed, power and solid distance control. He is not a high volume guy but he sticks and moves really well. His feet are never in the same place for very long and people have a really hard time getting to him. If you are able to get inside the reach and work your way to his legs you can potentially have success with takedowns. He is coming off the decision loss to Carlos Leal where he chewed his legs up, but spent too much time moving backwards and handing out against the cage.

Joel Alvarez

Joel Alvarez is very tall for the division at 6'3 and he uses that length and reach well. He has solid kicks, clean boxing but very good grappling. His grappling is interesting because he only has a single takedown in his 11 UFC fights. And up until his 10th UFC fight, he hadn't defended a single takedown either. It may be easy to take Joel down, but he did submit 4 of the 7 people who have. He is coming off the submission loss to Yaroslav Amosov.