An intellectually interesting fight that was a late scratch from a
card in July winds up here. There’s a worry that Tavares is finally
starting his late-career slide after a quietly consistent decade
and a half on the UFC roster. A 2010 alum of “The Ultimate
Fighter,” Tavares toiled for years on the prelims before settling
in as a gatekeeper to the middleweight elite, primarily serving as
a decision machine for most of the way. He has always been
technically sound to the point of almost never taking opponents by
surprise, but his combination of consistent volume, durability and
sneakily excellent takedown defense has almost always kept him
ahead on the scorecards until recent years. Tavares’ rare losses
usually came to top prospects or future champions, up until a
knockout loss to Bruno Silva
last year, which raised the concern that his durability had finally
betrayed him. He rebounded but didn’t dominate against a
particularly flat version of Chris
Weidman, but a one-sided loss to Gregory
Rodrigues earlier this year—the Brazilian found a surprising
level of success with his wrestling—raised more worries that
Tavares might have slipped past his margin for error. He might
still have enough to give Park a tough fight.
Park has been an entertaining fighter and shown some solid
development during his half-decade in the UFC. Initially a
potshotting counterstriker, “The Iron Turtle” did well to pivot
towards his wrestling and grappling game, at one point winning four
straight fights that included three victories via submission. A
December loss to Andre Muniz
resulted in a frustrating split decision, and while Park seems
poised to rebound here, this isn’t exactly the best matchup given
Tavares’ historically successful defensive wrestling. However, if
the Rodrigues loss was the start of a trend rather than an outlier
in terms of Tavares’ takedown defense betraying him, this could
turn into a blowout win for Park. Even if that’s not the case, the
Korean should be able to take the lead against an increasingly
passive Tavares. The pick is Park via decision.
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