Eastender Brad Pickett (Pictures) (3-1) is a trilby-hatted entertainer. Simply put, the crowds love him. He brings loads of fans with him and he has an aggressive, heavy-handed, all-action style that endears him to most spectators. The Elite-trained fighter’s one loss, to Chris Freeborn, highlighted his lack of ground skills but also showed that this kid has one hell of a heart.
Although his improvement has been nothing short of extraordinary, the fact is that Pickett is a striker who is making a transition to MMA. He’s learning fast but he’s not at Haluk’s level yet.
Pickett’s loss to Freeborn is the most telling here, since Freeborn and Haluk are similar fighters in the sense that they’re both tough, experienced grapplers. That said, Haluk is the better of the two, so expect him to follow Freeborn’s blueprint and control the Eastender en route to a second round submission.