My biggest issue with Sakai is their performance against Overeem/Arlovski as a measuring stick. Sakai was finished/and received a split against Andrei. and Rozen won via knockout on both. While this is simple mma math, its definitely something to say who has more stopping power. Also the 80+ kick boxing fights makes Rozen far more experience on the feet, he keeps it methodical and paces himself like a vet. The two fighters he lost to had two key ingredients to beating him.
1.Previous experience in muay thai to match Rozen.
2.F-U punching power.
While Sakai has a high ko ratio, majority of his finishes are tko punches ground and pound that came from knockdowns or foot sweeps. But most of his knockdowns were done in the clinch, something Rozen knows a lot about as a Muay thai fighter.
Currently, Rozen has 6 ' ko punches' finishes, these are the type of kos that knock you out on the feet. I truely believe he is a much more better boxer. He knows how to put more force into his power and wait for those key moments to exploit.
So with that being said, the last thing to check is Sakai's brown belt in bjj and his wrestling, Sakai has 3 takedowns, almost all of them foot sweeps. These are all muay thai foot sweeps that Sakai learned from his amatear Thai boxing days in brazil, techniques I think Rozen knows himself, as muay thai fighters have knowledge in some aspects, another fighter for example Lookaboom. So banking on a ground finish when Rozen Thwarted Overeem's passes, I think Rosen can nulify Sakai's ground game, and he has an 80% tdd.Something you can credit to practicing Muay thai.
I have about 4 pros for Rozen and 2 pros for Sakai. Sakai having more mma experience and bjj.
But i believe Rozens' history against strikers is better, his grappling defense even or enough, and his previous experience in other combat sports the final plus.
The likely hood here is Rozen winning a UD, unless Sakai pulls out a trump card and we see his grappling come alive and he steals a ground control victory. And that is a big maybe.
