Dominick Cruz expects fireworks out of Tommy McMillen and Marwan Rahiki at UFC Fight Night 288.
In a battle of undefeated featherweight prospects, McMillen (11-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and Rahiki (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) throw down on Saturday's Noche UFC main card at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz. (Paramount+)
Both McMillen and Rahiki rallied to get the win on Dana White's Contender Series. They then both finished their first two UFC fights, which has the fans buzzing about their matchup. Former UFC bantamweight champion Cruz marveled at Rahiki's offensive firepower when breaking down his tape.
"His counter ability, I think he's a sharpshooter," Cruz said of Rahiki on his YouTube channel. "If we had to name the difference between McMillan and Rahiki,
it's Rahiki is a sharpshooter offensively and he's got the power, and he uses the speed to his advantage and he's a stance switcher. He's good with distance, and he's pure offense.
"And McMillan, I think is also pure offense, not a ton of defense, and an offensive like non-stop. Look at these crazy combinations you're seeing out of this guy (Rahiki). It's so quick. I mean, he's throwing six-seven punch combos, double spinning heel kicks. Like what is McMillan going to do with that?"
McMillen has shown insane pace and durability which resulted in him breaking the UFC's significant strikes record in a three-round fight in his previous outing. Can he keep that up against increasing levels of competition? That's what UFC Hall of Famer Cruz is eager to find out.
"He's got to just walk," Cruz said of McMillen. "He's got to be ready to eat the shot, walk through it, and then do more damage once he gets close. But can he get close to this guy? I don't know. This is a fun matchup. I'm telling you, that could be a co-main event. They're putting a third fight on the card for that reason because these two are going to match up really well. Neither of them really rely on their defense. They use their offense as their defense and that's always fun for the fans because they'll take a shot to give a shot, and that's what we want to see. There's a reason why the slap fighting is making waves in the world because people don't care about defense.
"They just want to see people get hit and get hurt, and these two have that, and they're both bringing that to the table. Now, I don't want to make it sound like they have zero defense. I'm just saying if I watch the habits, they kind of put defense to the side and say, f*ck it, I'm just going to sprint with my offense and make this person defensive so I don't have to be. And both McMillan and Rahiki share that in common, and that's where us, the fans, are going to win. I don't think we're going to see a lot of grappling in it. They could do it, but I don't think we're going to see a ton of it. I think the most of it might be on the fence when somebody gets rocked or hurt. So, I think we're going to see a standup battle on this one, too. So, tune in, don't go get your beer during that fight."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC analyst: Tommy McMillen, Marwan Rahiki 'use their offense as their defense'
