Kevin Borjas

He calls it hard to predict where the fight happens and only says he's leaning toward Tsuruya landing takedowns, with the fight going the other way entirely if he can't.

Borjas is rated a clean, well-rounded striker: good combinations mixing knees and elbows, clean straight punches, kicks, strong counters, and a notable habit of catching a kick and firing back a cross while holding the opponent's leg. On the ground his takedown defense is rated well too, with a good sprawl into a cross-face, and the analyst specifically notes he offers little offense from the bottom but does not get controlled there either. The whole matchup is framed as a clean striker against a relentless wrestler, with the outcome hinging on whether that takedown defense holds up over the full fight.

Calls it hard to call and explicitly says (his own word) he's leaning toward Tsuruya getting the takedowns; concedes he's in trouble on the feet if he can't.

Borjas is called a good, maybe solid striker (the analyst floats an upgrade but says he isn't sure), with good combinations mixing knees and elbows, clean straights, and praised counters, including catching kicks and countering while still holding the leg. His grappling is nuanced: good defensively (he refuses bottom position, sprawls to a cross face, and gets back up) but he offers nothing offensively on the mat. His tougher recent record is explained by facing the division's best repeatedly.

Flat declarative: "Lima probably gets it done."

A good striker with clean combinations mixing knees and elbows, solid kicks and a counter-punching style built around leaning back off strikes; that same counter style is flagged as exploitable against anyone willing to throw long combinations rather than single shots. One counter he's praised for is catching a kick and throwing the cross behind it. His grappling is good defensively -- a strong sprawl with cross-facing -- but he has almost nothing to offer offensively and refuses to stay on bottom.

States directly that he expects this fighter to prevail and settles on him as the winner, with a stated mechanism (more power, no lean-back liability, good throws, strong finishing instinct); the only hedge voiced is that it should be a fun, competitive scrap, not a hedge on who wins.

A good striker who mixes knees and elbows into his combinations, with crisp straights, a good kicking game, and good counter-striking - he likes catching kicks to counter with the cross. His lean-back habit when countering is flagged as a real liability. Works the body well. Defensively sound grappler - good sprawl, really good crossface, refuses to accept bottom position - but shows no real offensive grappling. Carries a sizable experience edge (14 fights to Rodriguez's six) built against tougher recent UFC competition.

Decisive value framing: 'let's go... it's dog season... I'm taking it,' with no hedge on the win itself.

A well-regarded striker landing combinations with knees and elbows mixed in, throwing clean, straight punches, and owning a signature counter -- catching an incoming kick directly into a return shot, often choosing to make the man stand back up rather than chase a finish on the floor. He defends the mat well (a strong sprawl, good positioning, refusing the bottom) but is light on finishing tools of his own once there; that gap is not expected to matter given how this fight is framed. As of 2025-08-18.

winner named via internal naming ('Boras'), tag 'both,' closing declaration firm.; immediately preceded by a plain 'I don't know' and a self-deprecating remark about being wrong, stacked with a disclosed fan bias that runs with the pick -- discounting confidence well below a firm declaration.

Good striker with clean straight punches, good combinations mixing knees/elbows, and good counters -- lands a heavy cross off a catch and chooses not to chase opponents to the mat, preferring to keep it standing. Recently started using leg kicks more, which is noted as important here. Good grappler defensively but lacks offensive grappling almost entirely by design; good sprawl and refuses bottom position. His UFC losses have come to notably good competition.

Repeats conviction twice ('feel pretty good'), frames Borjas as a standout pick that jumped off the page with a clear mechanism (volume/pace edge); only hedge is the generic MMA-can-be-crazy disclaimer, not a route-specific doubt.

Borjas is a solid, very fast striker who throws great combinations mixing in knees and elbows, counters well, and shows real fight IQ by refusing to chase a dropped opponent to the mat. His one named flaw is a lean-back pull-counter habit that could be exploited by a high-volume striker -- which the analyst states directly is not a danger here because Costa's own volume is low.

He states plainly 'the odds aren't close' and repeats the Borjas pick three separate times, though he also calls the striking matchup itself very close.

Graded a solid striker with a reach edge in this fight, mixing clean punches, combinations that fold in knees and elbows, and body work, with a countering ability off the back foot that the analyst singles out as one of his very best weapons. Rather than chase a stuffed shot to the floor, he prefers to make his opponent stand back up. His recurring flaw is relying on leaning away from punches, fine against single shots but increasingly exposed against longer combinations; his first reaction to a takedown is solid, though the analyst expects that to erode across repeated attempts over a full fight -- not something this particular, non-wrestling opponent is likely to test. As of 2023-11-07.