Andrey Pulyaev

convinced the other way

Pulaev is a good, technical striker with a nice body kick and a jab he works well, picking his shots carefully; he is also durable, having gone a full three rounds with a notably dangerous past opponent. The tradeoff is that he throws mostly single shots while backing up, so there is not much force behind them. His grappling is decent but has a surprise factor for a striker: good top control, decent takedowns, and submissions off his back that can catch people off guard. The analyst calls this a close, tough fight to call and says he could be swayed the other way.

Predicts Gautier walks Pulyaev down and finishes within the first round, and gives Pulyaev's only realistic path to victory (a grinding, space-denying takedown) next to no real chance.

A good, calculated striker who picks his shots and avoids brawling -- works a good jab and a really nice body kick -- but relies heavily on single shots and backs up fairly easily under pressure, since pressure is exactly what he doesn't want. Decent grappling -- takedowns rated decent, control that's pretty good, and surprising submissions off his back -- is explicitly called his best realistic path to victory here, even though his own striking is rated above his grappling.

says plainly 'I'm not super confident' right after picking Klein, resting the pick on a grappling edge over a striker he doesn't see as 'super dangerous'.

A pretty good, measured striker who pokes his jab, works the body kick well and picks his shots carefully -- likely the cleaner, more technical striker in this fight -- but he leans on single shots rather than combinations and gets backed up when pressed. He is a decent grappler with decent takedowns and pretty good control when he gets there, plus a surprising ability to work submissions off his back, though that is not described as his best path to winning.

He doubts Pulyaev's path works and decides 'we're gonna take CLD,' naming CLD's power and forward pressure against Pulyaev's backing-up tendency as the mechanism.

As of 2025-03-16, not his newest read (no earlier reads on file; three later reads exist, so this is an early but not a current-level read). A technical, accurate striker who picks his shots and has a notably nasty body kick, but backs up under pressure and leans on single shots rather than combinations. His grappling is a serviceable, decent package including a surprising submission threat off his back.