Sean Strickland's striking is too sharp, too organized for DDP to do his usual sloppy 'blitzing'. The awakened Sean we saw in the Izzy fight had much better striking than any of DDP's prior opponents and they managed inflict plenty of damage (e.g. Tavares).
DDP's grappling is nothing spectacular. Certainly not on Khamzat's level. DDP will want to keep the fight standing.
In many ways, DDP is the 'Tony' of this generation of middleweight Fergusons. Like prime Tony, DDP is athletic, explosive and has good cardio. However, his fundamentals are weak, and Sean will take full advantage of that.
This is one of the best MW matchups in a long time. Personally, I would like to see more of DDP, but tonight Sean will be the victor.