He's legit good, elite level. Still tho, how much of an elite, it's a question mark, still. As is current Alex Pereira to me. Ever since UFC 300 with the new trunks, Poatan seemed to have received a power up as well, he looks more like a killer since he defeated Jiri the first time. Vs Jiri 1, it seemed still he had many vulnerabilities and looked pretty beatable. Since then he became more stoic, calmer during the fights and more untouchable... I know it's BS, but it's interesting because Jiri Prochazka said that when he saw Poatan's 300 performance he noticed something else, like if he had done a ritual to give him extra power. Aspinall, he may be below Prime Miocic or above Ngannou... Tough to know for sure.
If JJ is a 10 ....
Aspinall ??
Poatan ??
Dunno... Maybe they're > 10... Or still < 10 ... Hard to say with those 3.
Poatan gave fighters scores... I think he gave low scores on purpose to some fighters just to tease them, mostly Anakalaev and DDP that he had maybe potential match ups. But overall, I trust it. Poatan when asked about Aspinall, he said 9, then completed with "he is the one I've been wanting to fight against. When asked about JJ, Poatan also said 9... The draft kings also have Aspinall and JJ pretty much tied up. I think Aspinall's slight edge comes from him knowing JJ's game while JJ has little to no footage of Aspinall. But still, it seems he's on par with current Jon Jones. I think Alex Pereira is up there too --- a 9 (unless Poatan considered himself a 10... But I don't think so, it's more like a no one is perfect I guess).
But yeah, to me JJ, Aspinall and Poatan are all equal monsters and bosses of the game. Most ppl would disagree with Poatan being there, but that's how I feel. Demetrious Johnson after seeing Poatan vs Khalil said no one can defeat Poatan in his opinion.... And Usman argued Poatan should be #1 pfp. Which is curious because it was solely striking, but I think they see his striking as so elite and know that he can wrestle as well, not as well as a JJ or a Chimaev, Islam ofc, but has the tools for it not to be just something that can be picked up easily anymore.
In fact, I think JJ is > Ngannou and so is Aspinall, due to how well versed they are. JJ is more well versed than Aspinall, but Aspinall is also well versed and compensates JJ's better grappling with more KO power. He may be pretty much an Ngannou who is very good in the ground as well --- just not as much as JJ.
Poatan is [likely] worse on wrestling than Aspinall, and even more so than JJ, but it may not be a so glaring hole anymore and he has better striking than those two which covers for his still worse ground game. Well, we'll have to see... Let's see within Aspinall, JJ and Poatan who's the best.
At least it seems now that the next match will be actually Poatan vs Aspinall with the winner taking on JJ.... Crazy.
