UFC Fight Night Preview – Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira

Top flyweight contenders will square off in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Drew Beaupre | Oct 8, 2024

Denny Medley-Imagn Images

The UFC returns to the Apex in Las Vegas, NV this weekend for a UFC Fight Night card headlined by top flyweights vying for a crack at the division’s title.

The Main Event

The main event will see former title challenger Brandon Royval attempt to set up a rematch with UFC Flyweight Champion Alexandre Pantoja when he takes on rising star Tatsuro Taira.

The Octagon never rests 😤@BrandonRoyval vs @TatsuroTaira fight week is HERE!

[ #UFCVegas98 | Live on @ESPNPlus | 7pmET/4pmPT ] pic.twitter.com/zB0zljtJEt
— UFC (@ufc) October 7, 2024

Taira has added six victories to his unbeaten record since joining the UFC and is coming off a second-round win over Alex Perez in his first UFC main event, while Royval returned to the win column earlier this year when he defeated former champion Brandon Moreno via split decision.

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The Co-Main Event

The night’s co-main event will see Brad Tavares and Jun Yong Park both try to get back on track when they square off in an intriguing middleweight bout.

UFC Fight Night Preview – Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira

Jul 2, 2022; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; (Editor s Note: Graphic Content) Brad Tavares (red gloves) and Dricus Du Plessis (blue gloves) fight in a bout during UFC 276 at T-Mobile Arena. / Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

A member of the UFC roster since 2010, Tavares is coming off a stoppage-loss to Gregory Rodrigues and is 1-3 across his last four outings. Park was also finished by Rodrigues in 2021 before putting together a four-fight win streak, but that momentum was halted in his last outing when “The Iron Turtle” lost a split decision to Andre Muniz.

Fights You Don’t Want To Miss

Chidi Njokuani vs. Jared Gooden

Njokuani snapped a three-fight skid when he defeated Rhys McKee in March, and now he’ll square off with Gooden in what should hopefully be an entertaining scrap.

Mar 30, 2024; Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA; Chidi Njokuani (red gloves) fights Rhys McKee (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Boardwalk Hall. / Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images

“Night Train” collected his first UFC win since 2021 when he submitted Wellington Turman in his last outing, but fans will be hoping that these two welterweights keep things standing and trade big shots until one man hits the canvas.

Niko Price vs. Themba Gorimbo

Gorimbo dropped his UFC debut to AJ Fletcher but has collected three wins since then, while Price is coming off a unanimous decision over Alex Morono but has gone 2-3 dating back to 2021.

Dec 3, 2022; Orlando, Florida, USA; Niko Price (red gloves) fights Phil Rowe (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Amway Center. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

“The Hybrid” is an experienced veteran of the UFC, and he’ll try to stifle Gorimbo’s momentum in what should be another entertaining welterweight fight.

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Fighters to Watch

Clayton Carpenter

This matchup with Rocha will mark the first time fans have seen Carpenter in the Octagon since his UFC debut in February of last year.

Clayton Carpenter kicks Juancamilo Ronderos of Colombia in a flyweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX. / (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

The unbeaten talent impressed in that outing when he submitted Juancamilo Ronderos in the opening round, and now he’ll try to make up for lost time when he squares off with Lucas Rocha in the latter fighter’s promotional debut.

Jonathan Pearce

A five-fight win streak made Pearce a rising talent to watch in the featherweight division before he suffered back-to-back losses to Joanderson Brito and David Onama.

Dec 3, 2022; Orlando, Florida, USA; Darren Elkins (red gloves) fights Jonathan Pearce (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Amway Center. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

“JSP” has been given a tough matchup against a dangerous grappler in Pat Sabatini, but if Pearce still has aspirations of competing with the featherweight elite he'll needs to snap his current skid when he enters the cage in Las Vegas.

Grant Dawson

Dawson went unbeaten through his first nine appearances in the UFC before suffering a 33-second knockout-loss to Bobby Green in a UFC Fight Night main event last year.

Jun 1, 2024; Newark, New Jersey, USA; Grant Dawson (red gloves) fights Joe Solecki (blue gloves) during UFC 302 at Prudential Center. / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

The 30-year-old returned to the win column by defeating Joe Solecki in June, and if he still hopes to challenge for UFC gold at some point he’ll need to snap Rafa Garcia’s two-fight win streak.

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Main Card (ESPN+, 7:00 p.m. ET)

• Main Event: Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira

• Co-Main Event: Brad Tavares vs. Jun Yong Park

• Grandt Dawson vs. Rafa Garcia

• Julia Polastri vs. Cory McKenna

• Daniel Rodriguez vs. Alex Morono

• Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Josh Fremd

Preliminary Card (ESPN+, 4:00 p.m. ET)

• Chidi Njokuani vs. Jared Gooden

• CJ Vergara vs. Ramazan Temirov

• Jonathan Pearce vs. Pat Sabatini

• Themba Gorimbo vs. Niko Price

• Chris Barnett vs. Junior Tafa

• Dan Argueta vs. Cody Haddon

• Clayton Carpenter vs. Luca Rocha