Nicksick: We’ve seen Glover take some pretty big shots and weather the storm, find a way to get a takedown or get to his top-side position, so I think if you went in there and kind of banged on him a little bit, made him think, ‘We’re here to strike,’ that may be your opportunity, but personally, I think Glover’s best path to victory is to press this fight to the cage, take the steam out of Jiri’s arms — make him pummel, make him wrestle, make him get up and do all those little things.
It’s a five-round fight, so you have plenty of time to work, especially if you’re the grappler. How do you take the sting out of the guy that can strike hard and strike well? Make him pummel, make him grapple.
Chartier: If you’re Jiri’s team, it’s all about managing distance. You’ve got to keep him outside. It’s a pay-per-view, so it’s a bigger cage, you’ve got a little more space, so keep him outside at our range so we can land the big stuff, but don’t let him close distance. It’s all about managing distance and trying to land shots.
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Just keep touching him and don’t look for the knockout because I feel like when you look for a big knockout, that’s when he’ll get taken down easy. But if he can look for just getting touches, not wasting energy, and taking what comes from it, maybe Glover breaks down and gets a little desperate, and that’s where your opening could be.
On Glover’s side, I’d say, ‘Feint often, try to pull those big wild things out of Jiri and then capitalize when he goes too big and he’s out of position; that’s your entry.’ If you come out, hands up high, ready for all the BS that comes with these exciting fighters, be ready for the spinning stuff, the flying stuff, but fake — try to pull that out.
Saud: This really comes down to the speed and execution of these two athletes on fight night because it’s so different what they’re trying to do to each other. It’s going to come down to who can implement their will.
It’s going to come down to execution and we’re going to know fairly quickly. If (Prochazka) gets put on his back and he can’t f****** move, well, guess what?