Joe Pyfer thinks Sean Strickland is a bad stylistic matchup for Anthony Hernandez.
Former middleweight champion Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) meets Hernandez (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in Saturday's UFC Fight Night 267 main event (Paramount+) at Toyota Center in Houston.
Although Strickland is quite a moderate betting underdog against the streaking Hernandez, Pyfer disagrees with the oddsmakers.
"I'm going to keep it real short and sweet: I think Sean Strickland absolutely dominates," Pyfer said on his "BradyBagz Show." "I don't think that 'Fluffy' is going to have any success trying to wrestle him. I don't think he's going to have any success backing him up. I think that this is the right style. I could be way off, but I just don't see it.
"Anthony's been having so much success against guys that are actually afraid to wrestle because of cardio. I don't believe Sean Strickland is that guy. I think he's very sound in his wrestling department. I don't think he's going to have a problem defending the strikes. If he can defend strikes and be right in Israel's (Adesanya) face and not get touched up – he walked out of that fight with the belt without a single scratch on him, so I just don't see 'Fluffy' being able to do that."
Pyfer doesn't see Hernandez possessing the striking to stop Strickland from pressing forward.
"I just don't think he has the power to get Sean to back up, and I don't think Sean is going to give him that respect unless he gets cracked," Pyfer said. "I think that's why he lost to (Dricus du Plessis) both times because DDP, even though he's not very technical, DDP waits, waits, waits, and then boom. So you have to respect his power because look at what he did to his nose in the second fight. I've got Sean Strickland by, honestly, TKO or decision."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Why Joe Pyfer sees Sean Strickland dominating Anthony Hernandez