After a few weeks on the road, the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday returns to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas for a decent enough event. The headliner serves as the clear standout for UFC Fight Night 244, as top flyweight prospect Tatsuro Taira gets a shot to break into contention at 125 pounds against recent title challenger Brandon Royval. There are some recognizable names beyond the top of the card, with Brad Tavares set to add to his prolific UFC career against Jun Yong Park in the middleweight co-feature and Grant Dawson getting back to action in a lightweight showcase opposite Rafa Garcia. However, the best-made match might be found in a welterweight clash between veterans Daniel Rodriguez and Alex Morono.
Flyweights
#1 FLW | Brandon Royval (16-7, 6-3 UFC) vs. #5 FLW | Tatsuro Taira (16-0, 6-0 UFC)ODDS: Taira (-225), Royval (+185)
The flyweight title picture is a bit of a mess right now, with Alexandre Pantoja having little in the way of obvious next challengers, so this would be a nice time for Taira to earn his breakthrough win and become a true contender. Taira has been one of the top prospects out of Japan since the UFC has pivoted back to recruiting talent from that country, and he has lived up to that billing thus far as both an accurate striker and an excellent grappler. However, Taira’s game has shown some cracks along the way, mostly on the feet. While he’s technically quite sharp and has some knockout power, his approach is a bit overly patient and ponderous, leaving him open to get hit and doing little to flow into his wrestling. That has mattered little in Taira’s UFC career thus far, mostly thanks to the UFC slow-playing his matchmaking up until a June main event against Alex Perez. That fight ended unsatisfactorily, with Perez injuring his knee in the second round as the two grappled, but it was a solid enough showing for Taira up to that point. He got neutralized a bit but also showed an increased willingness to pick up the pace and effectively use the clinch. With that win under his belt, Taira now looks to unseat a recent title challenger in Royval and potentially earn his own championship opportunity in the process.
Royval has been frustrating to track, as even despite his success, he has the potential to be a much better fighter. Royval came to the UFC in 2020 as an absolute whirlwind of violence, pressing aggressive ideas until his opponents were unable to keep up and eventually got finished. After Royval’s aggression charged him directly into losses against Brandon Moreno and the aforementioned Pantoja, “Raw Dawg” has been much less committed to those concepts. Instead, he has tried to reinvent himself as a range striker, to mixed results. He still has a dedication to pace that means he throws out plenty of striking volume, but he’s extremely inaccurate in doing so. Nevertheless, he was able to string together three straight wins to get to a title shot in a rematch against Pantoja. Rogerio Bontorin was cowed by that empty volume, Matt Schnell essentially forced Royval to beat him in a brawl and he was able to catch Matheus Nicolau with a knockout knee. While the rematch against Pantoja was a much different fight than the sprint that was the first, it was still a disheartening result that saw the Brazilian consistently outwrestle his challenger for five rounds, suggesting a clear path forward for opponents to control Royval while he works for submissions. Royval then stepped in on a quick turnaround for another rematch, this time against Moreno. Naturally, Moreno followed none of the blueprint that Pantoja had laid out, instead taking his own range striking approach that allowed Royval to steal a decision victory through his volume. Given that Royval had just gotten dominated by the champ two months prior, it still left him frozen out of the title picture, so now it’s just a matter of racking up wins until things change or he somehow becomes undeniable. It will be fascinating to see how Taira handles this one, as Royval presents a unique challenge even with all his inefficiency. He’s the rare flyweight with a size advantage against Taira, and there’s not much of a historical precedent as to how the burgeoning Japanese star will deal with all that volume. If Taira can effectively close ranks, this becomes a much more winnable fight, as Royval will either concede to hunting for submissions or indulging him in some fairly even scrambles. However, a lot of this fight, particularly early on, could see Taira getting hit while he tries to feel things out, both in terms of landing his strikes and in being able to secure takedowns against such a long and fast-paced opponent. The lean is that Royval can clip the former Shooto champion before that feeling-out process is complete, but the opportunity is ripe for Taira to answer a lot of questions in the positive. The pick is Royval via second-round knockout.
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Royval vs. Taira
Park vs. Tavares
Dawson vs. Garcia
Polastri vs. McKenna
Rodriguez vs. Morono
Alhassan vs. Fremd
The Prelims