Preview: UFC Fight Night 244 ‘Royval vs. Taira’

Women’s Strawweights

Julia Polastri (12-4, 0-1 UFC) vs. Cory McKenna (8-3, 3-2 UFC)

ODDS: Polastri (-125), McKenna (+105)

This pairing should hopefully result in an engaging scrap. Signed by the company shortly after her 21st birthday in 2021, McKenna has had a solid UFC career to date, even if the Welshwoman hasn’t had much momentum in recent years. McKenna is an undersized fighter with one of the shortest reaches in UFC history, so she has done well to become a serviceable striker, even if the best parts of her game always figures to be her skills on the mat, where she’s aggressive in trying to make things happen. McKenna seemed to be making a bit of a run after outwrestling Cheyanne Vlismas to cap off 2022, but she became a forgotten woman after missing all of 2023, then got tapped out going to the mat with submission ace Jaqueline Amorim in her return fight earlier this year. Things figure to go a bit easier against Polastri, a fellow undersized scrapper who will enjoy a rare size advantage.

As a former atomweight, it now looks even more absurd that Polastri was tasked with facing oversized flyweight Jasmine Jasudavicius on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021, but the Brazilian did well to regroup as a strawweight and eventually earn her way back to the UFC. It’s hard to call Polastri a standout in any one area outside of her willingness to keep fighting, but she has been able to outlast a lot of lower-level opposition, and while her UFC debut was a loss to Josefine Lindgren Knutsson in June, she held up better than expected against a physically strong strawweight. She might skate by here, but the read is that McKenna can control this fight more often than not on the mat, even if this doesn’t figure to be a blowout. The pick is McKenna via decision.

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Royval vs. Taira
Park vs. Tavares
Dawson vs. Garcia
Polastri vs. McKenna
Rodriguez vs. Morono
Alhassan vs. Fremd
The Prelims