To borrow a phrase from boxing, styles make fights.

The bigger contrast between the approach each fighter brings to the ring, the idea goes, the more potential for entertainment and unpredictability.

Entering Saturday night’s Western Conference Final between No. 1 seed FC Tulsa and No. 3 seed New Mexico United at ONEOK Field (8:30 p.m. ET | Preview | ESPN+), you could have hardly brought together two more stylistically opposite squads.

Let’s start with the Scissortails, who have ridden their direct, high-pressure, low-possession approach to the best season in club history and a place at the top of the West in one of the most remarkable stories of the season.

Per Opta, Head Coach Luke Spencer’s side averaged the second-lowest possession mark in the league (43.6%) and recorded the fewest passes of any team in the league in the regular season (8,560), with 20.4 percent of those considered long passes (1,749). That mark was only surpassed by the one team which averaged less possession per game than Tulsa this year, Indy Eleven.

Once they’ve got into your defensive third, the Scissortails make it as difficult as possible to leave. Tulsa ranked second in the league when it came to winning possession in the attacking third, doing so 125 times. Get through there, and there are still traps to navigate – the side won possession in midfield (496) more than in its own defensive third (445).

So, how does New Mexico compare? How about posting the highest average possession mark in the league this season at 60.9 percent per game, recording the second-most passes in the league with 14,835 – an average of almost 500 per game – of which only 9.8 percent would be considered long passes (1,459). The side also ranks second-last in the league in possession won in the final third, doing so on 70 occasions, while winning possession 47.5 percent of the time in its own defensive third.

Advantage Tulsa, right? Not necessarily.

• TAKING A HIT: Certainly, numerous elements for how the Scissortails win were present in their 5-2 victory when the teams last met at ONEOK Field in August. Trailing by a goal at halftime, the hosts reeled off three goals in eight minutes to start the second half; the first caused by a midfield turnover which ended up at the feet of Harvey St. Clair, the second on a piece of individual brilliance by Marcos Cerato, and the third on a route-one move that went end to end in three passes before Kalil ElMedkhar’s finish.

• MAKING THE SWITCH: Since that meeting, New Mexico hasn’t changed a lot, but there’s been a clear idea of having more flexibility to go over defensive presses rather than through them. New Mexico’s average number of long passes has risen per game, and while it didn’t result in a victory when the sides matched up in September at Isotopes Park – Tulsa again emerged with a win, this time by a 1-0 scoreline – United not only carried more of the play but created the better chances.

• RAMPING UP: That flexibility – aided by the return to full fitness of Dayonn Harris, scorer of United’s winner against Orange County SC last Saturday on the left flank – has seen New Mexico not only go on a club-best nine-game undefeated streak since its September defeat to Tulsa, but rack up an average of two goals per game while averaging 1.8 Expected Goals/90 minutes in doing so.

Will it make the difference as New Mexico tries to end Tulsa’s 13-game home undefeated streak, with another packed house expected to try and cheer the hosts on to the first silverware in their decade-long history? That’s the big question, and one we’re looking forward to finding out.

In a matchup of first-time Western Conference Finalists, this stands to be the most intriguing tactical battle of the postseason.

• LEARN MORE: Check out John Morrissey’s Video Breakdown on the all-new USLTactics.com