Damian Pinas is exactly who the UFC thinks he is. He is fast, powerful, exciting and does all the things. This matchup in my opinion is a step down in competition from his last one. It’s striker vs striker and Pinas is just better. My one and only concern here is we’ve never seen Pinas fight to a decision and we have seen Pulayev survive against another incredible striker in Ateba. So it is possible that Pulayev stays strong and then the 3rd round gets weird, but I can’t pick based off the idea that Damian might, maybe slow down. So Pinas has the pick and he should run away with this.

Damian Pinas

Damian Pinas is a composed and stalky striker. His power is insanely impressive and he hides the big right hook behind an easy jab. he can grapple as well and does a great job grabbing submissions when they are available instead only looking for KOs. His takedown defense is ok and is probably a little inflated because he has so much power people tend to take shitty shots from far away. He is coming off the KO win over professional kickboxer Cesar Almeida.

Andrey Pulyaev

Andrey Pulyaev is a solid striker who takes his time and keeps things tight. He is very tall and uses his range well. He uses a jab more often than most but many times there is nothing behind it. He does a nice job working the body on the feet and transitioning to takedowns when he needs them. He is coming off the decision loss to Nursulton Ruziboev where he only had enough time to land 1 strike before he was on the ground.