Throwing my 2 cents in on the Millender-Muhammad debate...
I love how Millender probably just begged the UFC to let him fight again right away so they answer with a guy like Muhammad. First class trolling there. Or is it.....
I kind of wonder if Curtis kind of wondered if his previous couple opponents wouldn't look to take him down. Griffin's seemed to catch him by surprise and Zaleski hit him with the perfect, powerful TD. With Belal, he won't have any mystery; he'll 100% be looking for TDs at some point, but it's not like Belal's some phenom at completing them anyways. Funny enough, I actually think Belal's style really plays to Millender and because of it he will do everything he can to establish distance from the onset, just like he did in Rounds 2 and 3 against Griffin, instead of waiting to see what comes or getting surprised at a sudden TD attempt. Against Griffin he used smart, cautious length and kept his hands low to get good underhooks immediately. He even stuffs a deep, hands-clasped TD attempt in the 3rd by Griffin. Randy Brown is a skinny, discount Millender and he kept alot of the fight against Belal on the feet, for the most part, with fairly straightforward TDD. Belal might not be able to outmuscle the much bigger Millender like he did in the 3rd to Brown. He couldn't outmuscle Neal either.
I actually think this is a somewhat simple match-up for Curtis. He knows exactly what Muhammad will try to do because Belal is a completely known entity. He won't have to worry about cat-like sub reflexes like Zaleski in scrambles - the way he pounced on his exposed back was incredible - and there's basically zero KO threat. Sure, Belal is "always game" but I see this giving Curtis more openings sooner. The knees and kicks Millender was landing against Griffin nearly finished him and they will KO the slower, more exposed/hittable Belal if he can land one clean.
I'm on +Millender and I think he has a good chance to even finish him too. The striking skill gap is so wide, the TDD is not as bad as thought, while the TD's themselves aren't that often or that good, and recency bias from a short bout where Curtis made one really bad mistake - and Zaleski looked great - is giving us good odds on him imo.