TheWeasle picked Kyler Phillips to win a decision over the surging, five-fight streak Vinicius Oliveira. He likened Oliveira to Michael Morales—huge for the division, raw but freakishly strong, throwing haymakers, flying knees and muscling takedowns. Phillips, however, is the far cleaner technician with superior footwork and angle exits. TheWeasle stressed that Phillips must dial up volume compared to the Rob Font fight, avoid prolonged wrestling exchanges that drained his gas tank there, and instead "pot-shot and exit" while circling. Because Oliveira’s best chance is to drag him into wild power exchanges or extended grappling, Phillips’ movement is the key commodity. If he keeps the bout vertical and picks spots, his speed and clean combinations should pile up points and steer him to the cards.

Sniper tagged Kyler Phillips as one of his favorite salary-saving dogs at $7,700. Despite entering as a +130 underdog, Phillips owns wins over Song Yadong and Raoni Barcelos and has never been finished, whereas Vinicius Oliveira’s recent hype surge may be inflating the line. Sniper expects a high-paced striking battle where Phillips’ superior gas tank and pressure can melt Oliveira late or bank the last two rounds. With both fighters historically landing in the six-strike-per-minute range, a 15-minute decision could already hit value, and any late finish would smash the slate. He plans to be overweight on Phillips while still grabbing some Oliveira exposure for game-theory balance.

Madlab Michael Lurato grabbed the plus-money side and played Kyler Phillips by decision, stressing that the bout hinges on whether Phillips can keep his gas tank intact. Lurato is confident Phillips wins Round 1—he joked he would lay –400 that the Matrix banks the opener—because of his stance switches, tricky footwork, and unpredictable “goofy-footed” attacks that take opponents a round to decode. The danger, he warned, is Phillips’s historical fade: once the pace he sets catches up, his output dives and he begins fighting off the back foot. Lurato expects Vinicius Oliveira to pour on trademark forward pressure in the third, but is betting that Phillips bags the first, steals the swing second with movement, and survives late heat. With Phillips sitting around +130, Lurato believes the judges will reward the cleaner early work often enough to cash the dog moneyline, and he sprinkled the decision prop for extra value.