UFC Vegas 98 goes down inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, as elite flyweights Brandon Royal and Tatsuro Taira take the main event stage in a pivotal matchup in the division’s championship implications.
Click here to watch Brandon Royval’s media day. Footage via ‘MMA Junkie’ on YouTube.
UFC Vegas 98 Main Event: Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira
UFC Vegas 98 has an extremely skilled main event in store as No. 1-ranked Brandon Royval (16-7-0) takes on the young and undefeated Japanese phenom Tatsuro Taira (16-0-0) in a title eliminator bout.
This five-round matchup is sure to excite fans around the world, as both Royval and Taira are coming off impressive wins over top-ranked competition.
Royval, 32, is 4-1 out of his last five fights, with his most recent being over former flyweight champion Brandon Moreno. Royal defeated Moreno via a split decision back in February.
Taira, 24, is on an undefeated streak, having won all his 5 UFC fights. His most recent victory was a second-round TKO via Knee injury from a takedown over No. 6-ranked Alex Perez back in June.
Considering Taira’s youth and energy, I foresee him being able to execute his game plan effectively against Royval.
The highly talented grappler Taira will be looking to use his striking early on to get ahold of Royval in the clinch eventually.
Ultimately, Taira will be looking to secure a slick back takeover of Royval, where the skilled grappler can then threaten submission attempts.
As for Royval, the veteran flyweight would be best served by keeping this fight standing so that he can pepper Taira in the striking exchanges.
Royval must stay disciplined behind his jab and make Taira respect his offense early on to ward off Taira’s inevitable grappling attempts.
Prediction: Taira via Submission R2 (Rear-Naked Choke)
UFC Vegas 98 Co-main Event: Brad Tavares vs. Jun-yong Park
UFC Vegas 98’s co-main event features a gritty matchup between veteran middleweights Brad Tavares (20-10-0) and Jun-yong Park (17-6-0).
This UFC Vegas 98 co-main event matchup is hard to gauge from the surface as both men look to return to winning ways.
Tavares, 36, comes into this fight 2-3 in his last five fights, with his most recent UFC appearance being a TKO loss to the surging contender Gregory Rodrigues in February.
Park, 33, is 4-1 in his last five fights and is looking to push for the top-15 rankings as he looks to bounce back from a split decision loss to Andre Muniz in December 2023.
That said, Park was the younger, more hungry fighter, staying one step ahead of Tavares throughout three rounds at UFC Vegas 98.
Prediction: Park via Decision
Other Fights on UFC Vegas 98
Main Card:
- (170 lbs.) Chidi Njokuani (23-10-0) vs. Jared Gooden (23-9-0): Njokuani via Decision
- (155 lbs.) Grant Dawson (21-2-1) vs. Rafa Garcia (16-3-0): Dawson via Decision
- (170 lbs.) Daniel Rodriguez (17-5-0) vs. Alex Morono (24-10-0, 1NC): Rodriguez via Decision
Prelims:
- (125 lbs.) Cj Vergara (12-5-1) vs. Ramazonbek Temirov (17-2-0): Temirov via KO/TKO R2
- (145 lbs.) Jonathan Pearce (14-6-0) vs. Pat Sabatini (18-5-0): Pearce via Decision
- (170 lbs.) Themba Gorimbo (13-4-0) vs. Niko Price (16-7-0, 2NC): Gorimbo via Decision
- (265 lbs.) Junior Tafa (5-3-0) vs. Sean Sharaf (4-0-0): Tafa via KO/TKO R1
- (W 115 lbs.) Julia Polastri (12-4-0) vs. Cory McKenna (8-3-0): Polastri via Decision
- (135 lbs.) Dan Argueta (9-2-0, 2NC) vs. Cody Haddon (7-1-0): Haddon via Decision
- (125 lbs.) Clayton Carpenter (7-0-0) vs. Lucas Rocha (17-1-0): Carpenter via Decision
Stay tuned for more UFC news & updates via RespectMyRegion
