Sengoku 8th Battle Preview

Marlon Sandro vs. Nick Denis

The Breakdown: The downside of tournaments is that you always end up with a fight between two of the tournament’s best way too early in the game. This is that fight. Both Nick Denis and Marlon Sandro are two of the best featherweight prospects in the world and regarded as the potential breakout stars of the show. While Denis’ fist-first style has won him plenty of fans, Sandro has a dominating jiu-jitsu game and the takedowns to back it up. Unless Denis can force Sandro to stay on the feet, he’ll be outgunned on the mat.

The X Factor: Like most dominating grapplers, Sandro hasn’t proven much as a striker and he hasn’t had to. While Denis’ takedown defense remains a wildcard, his striking can level most any featherweight in the field, Sandro included. It won’t take more than a botched takedown or two by Sandro for Denis to suddenly become a live underdog.

The Bottom Line: All told, it’s hard to ignore Sandro’s grappling, especially in a field where wrestling is a weakness across nearly the entire board. Denis is hardly a wrestling invalid, but he hasn’t shown that he can resist a skilled opponent hell-bent on taking him to the mat. That will be the story of this fight, as Sandro throttles Denis by turning in a top-control special and notching an uneventful submission win.