Predictiion: Brendan Allen via Decision<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This pick isn’t necessarily about who\u2019s the better fighter on paper, but more about where they\u2019re at right now<\/em>. And that\u2019s why I\u2019m leaning toward Allen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If this was 2022 Vettori, this wouldn\u2019t even be a debate. That version of Marvin was a tank. Never out of shape, constantly leveling up whether he won or lost, and completely locked in on that championship mindset. He was damn near impossible to hurt, had one of the strongest wrestling bases in the division, and could push a pace with solid footwork that made him a nightmare to deal with. The only real way to beat him was to be a high-level movement guy\u2014someone who could frustrate him and pick him apart at range. Brendan Allen isn\u2019t that. He\u2019s not some elusive sniper dancing around the outside\u2014he\u2019s a gritty, grappling-first, pressure fighter who wants to wear you down and take over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But this isn\u2019t 2022 anymore. This version of Vettori is coming off shoulder surgery, and that last performance? Easily one of the worst showings of his career. The pop wasn\u2019t there, the footwork looked sluggish, and mentally, he didn\u2019t seem like the same guy who used to be obsessed with breaking his opponent down. It wasn\u2019t just that he lost\u2014it was how<\/em> he looked while doing it. And now he\u2019s turning around pretty quick again, against a guy like Allen who\u2019s hungry, active, and chasing gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Allen may not be as durable as Vettori and doesn\u2019t have the same kind of wrestling defense, but he\u2019s sharp when he smells an opportunity and has been looking like someone who\u2019s finally putting all the pieces together. He doesn\u2019t need to be flashy here\u2014he just needs to test whether Vettori\u2019s body is really back and if the mental drive is still there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s the real question. Is Vettori healed? Is he still locked in like he used to be? Or is this another fight too soon, too rushed, and maybe too much pride driving it? I\u2019m not confident enough to bet on Vettori just to find out if the old version is still alive. Until we see<\/em> that guy again, Allen feels like the smarter lean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Predictiion: Brendan Allen via Decision This pick isn’t necessarily about who\u2019s the better fighter on paper, but more about where they\u2019re at right now. And that\u2019s why I\u2019m leaning toward Allen. If this was 2022 Vettori, this wouldn\u2019t even be a debate. That version of Marvin was a tank. Never…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}