painful, lost a bit on soto
3-1 is nice bread!
here's what I wrote in my article before the fight
Unlike Ferrer, Soto has been familiarized to the physical grind of Warren's wrestling style; (wrestled at Iowa Central Community College alongside both Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez) you can expect him to potentially make Warren work harder than he ever has for a takedown.
In the very least, the Wilson Reis fight gave us a descent indication on how Soto will try and keep it standing; his defensive wrestling skills were successfully on display. Soto was able to use his speed and agility to back out of the first few takedowns attempts. Once Reis did finally get him down, Soto showed excellent scramble ability and popped right back up to his feet. Not only should Warren have a tough time getting a hold of Soto, but when he does it should be even harder keeping him down.
Soto's strategy should be fairly simple for this fight; his significant striking edge should give him free reign with his punches, look for him to come out strong and quickly try to measure up his heavy right hand. In the event that Warren does complete an early takedown, Soto will make him expend maximum energy trying to hold him there, while also possessing the ability to seriously threaten off of his back with submission attempts. Look for Warren to tire around the 4th round, by then Soto should be able to force a pace that Warren can't keep up with. I see a stoppage sometime in the last two rounds, most likely by submission.
