Jonas Flok vs Christian Lohsen

• Lohnsen vs Flok is a prelim on Thursday's PFL #8 card

Taking a look at Christian Lohsen tape- First off I want to say this kid has some of the smoothest jiu jitsu I've seen on the regional scene in quite some time. Some of these transitions you don't even see on the big shows. Super dangerous in early stages of fight and is a HIGH level BJJ player. As far as striking is concerned, I think he is defensively flawed and has a lot of work to do in that regard. He is not afraid to throw offense but I don't rate his striking very much. If you are backing him with money you don't want him to see him on the feet for extended periods of time, that is not his game. One fight that sticks out to me is his fight on the contender series back in 2019. If you want a fight to judge Lohsen on it's that one. EXPLOSIVE for about 5 mins and tends to fade if pressured and forced to strike against mid level type strikers. In his latest fight I got the sense that his cardio is still very much in question. After a barrage of submission attempts from Lohsen in round 1 his opponent Dennis Hughes was somehow still conscious. Walking back to his corner you can just see there wasn't much left in the tank. He went on to win unanimously in that fight surprisingly. In round 2 when I thought he was getting ready to fade he catches a kick and uses for a takedown. If you give this guy an inch he is going to take a foot, one takedown could potentially win him the round, even when tired, That's how solid his BJJ is.

A lot of things to like about Lohsen on tape but the biggest concern by far is his cardio. If he can fix that I think he has the potential to make a lot of noise in his young career. (He is only 26 years old so drastic improvements in short amount of time wouldn't surprise me)

Taking a look at Jonas Flok tape- Primarily a wrestler, isn't going to wow you in any area of the game but is a solid GRITTY fighter with good cardio. Just like Lohsen I think there was a lot to be desired when watching Flok strike in his regional fights. Hammers a good low kick but not a ton of variety of volume with striking game. He strikes and hangs around on the feet just long enough to get down opponents timing, from there he looks to wrestle and implement strength in clinch to grind out opponents. Flok has fought quite a few decent names (Alex Gilpin, Bryce Logan, Kalieo Romero and Kenneth Cross) and has fought 19 times a pro. 3 of those fights he lost but no doubt he is coming in with a big experience edge and has faced stiffer competition overall. Like I mentioned he isn't going to wow you in any area but he has never been submitted in his pro career and only finished once in 22 total fights. That being said it's hard to imagine Lohsen winning a decision in this fight. Flok is a cardio machine and if he survives the jiu jitsu storm early I think I favor him after 7.5 min mark. Here's the problem, Flok is a wrestler/grinder and I've seen times where Lohsen is tired and still manages to do some crazy things on the mat, top position or bottom. So I do favor the cardio of Flok here but what does that matter if he is going to give Lohsen the type of fight he wants. I don't see Flok giving him much trouble on the feet and does he really want to mess with Lohsen on the ground early on in fight?

Prediction- At the end of the day I actually think this is a good matchup for Christian Lohsen. Flok doesn't have the striking I want to see when backing someone against Christian Lohsen. Lohsen will have a 4 inch height advantage and a big reach advantage as well. The explosiveness and BJJ of Lohsen will have Flok hesitant to shoot in early and therefore I think Lohsen will be leading the dance and cardio will probably hold up a lot better than it has in previous fights. Flok's primary weapon to win fights is cancelled out here and that is bad news. Flok needs to execute a near perfect gameplan to get Lohsen where he wants him and I don't think he can do it. I'm going to go with a bold-ish type prediction here. Lohsen is the first man to submit Jonas Flok.

How to bet this fight- Christian Lohsen at dog odds is definitely the side imo. Younger, higher ceiling and good matchup for him. I have no problem lining Christian Lohsen at 60% in this spot, so at +120 there is a lot of meat left on the bone. If props come out I think Lohsen via submission is also a damn good bet. If you don't see what I'm seeing and are leaning Flok I would go with over and Flok by decision