Instantly dislike Bryan Battle and Sergei Spivak this weekend.
Going from that Tresean Gore guy to Takashi Sato is an epic jump. Not saying he can't make it, but Sato has only lost to very high calibre opposition. Battle is high volume, Sato is SUPER low volume, almost Alvey-esque, but that's a style that does work when opponents engage. You don't get high output by not engaging. What's always underrated in fights like this is the ability of the low output fighter to read the opponent. I don't really see what Battle is going to bring that will throw Sato off? Tentatively, Sato should be favourite there IMHO.
Sergei Spivak is favourite because Sakai is on a three fight skid. But all those guys that beat him are heavy hitters. Spivak is more closely aligned to fighters like Tybura and Ivanov, though he's definitely faster than those two and has better boxing technique. Still, Spivak's striking is not as good as Sakai's. I'm not at all confident in hoping Spivak lands something heavy; and bigger, heavier dudes have failed to pin Sakai to the mat or the fence. I like Sakai here, depending on whether or not he's got the confidence to put it on Spivak.
