I think this fight is somewhat similar to the Chito Vera vs Charles Jourdain fight. Not in style but in circumstance. When I broke down Chito and Jourdain I said Chito was the better fighter in every aspect of MMA and his recent record only looked the way it did because he was fighting the literal best guys on the planet at the time. You could say almost the same thing about Marvin, while his resume isn’t as sound as Chito’s, he’s been fighting top 10 guys for the last 6 years while Ismael is fighting Ultimate Fighter winners and Bruno Silva. I think Marvin is a step ahead here. He’s getting older, he’s slowing down and he’s definitely not who he used to be, but I think he’s definitely good enough to win this fight. The striking volume should be there, the chin absolutely is and if he wants takedowns, I think he can do that as well. I debated betting on him, but he is an emotional Italian on a 4 fight skid, so I can’t fully trust his psyche right now.

Marvin Vettori

Marvin Vetori is a grappler at his core but has developed striking over time. He has a good set of diverse takedowns from body locks to nice hit and run doubles. His striking has improved over the years and despite fighting the upper echelon of guys, he has a positive striking differential. He averages almost 2 takedowns per fight and has a 68% takedown defense with a head made out of infinity stones. He is coming off the decision loss to Brunno Ferreira, that I thought he won.

Ismail Naurdiev

Ismail Naurdiev is an aggressive striker and solid grappler. He has competed as a kickboxer and a wrestler but for some reason seems to struggle putting it all together inside a cage. He’s had a couple of stints in the UFC with mixed results. He bounces between welterweight and middleweight and seems to have more success at the higher weightclass. He is coming back after a year away and a sub 2 minute KO win over Ryan Loder.