UFC Fight Night Predictions: Royval vs Taira (Oct 12)

Our UFC Fight Night predictions for October 12th’s event includes Tatsuro Taira taking the win against Brandon Royval.  MMA fans might not be keen on Apex events, but we think this one will make them fall back in love with Fight Nights.

It’s because we predict the main event – Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira – will be a real banger. This is practically a title eliminator fight as it’s very likely that the winner will get to fight for the UFC Flyweight Championship belt in the future.

We also expect to see a real war in the UFC Fight Night 244 co-main event, in which we predict a striking war between Brad Tavares and Jun Yong Park a.k.a. The Iron Turtle.

Royval vs. Taira – Potential Title Eliminator

Brandon Royval (16-7) is a former UFC Flyweight title challenger who’s currently No. 1 in the Flyweight rankings. He joined the UFC in 2020, winning six of his nine fights.

His most recent loss happened to Alexandre Pantoja in the fight for the title. A victory over Taira could guarantee him another title shot.

Raw Dog’s main advantage coming to this fight is his vast experience with fighting at the top level. This guy has fought four of the top 10 flyweights, as well as the divisional champ. He’s great when it comes to grappling, with 9 wins by submission in his portfolio.

However, Royval seems to be vulnerable to takedowns, which could be a big problem for him in Saturday’s fight.

The thing is that Tatsuro Taira’s greatest strength is his wrestling. The 24-year-old Japanese fighter is averaging 2.35 takedowns per fight, with seven submission wins in his portfolio.

He’s 16-0 overall, with the biggest win of his career happening in June when he beat Alex Perez by TKO.

Our prediction leans towards Taira, and it’s not just because of his exceptional wrestling. It’s also because he’s a smart fighter who moves fast and is very good defensively.

He absorbs just 1.70 significant strikes per minute, which is two times better than Royval (3.42).

Brad Tavares and Park Jun-yong Ready for War

Brad Tavares (20-9) is first and foremost a striker. He likes hitting his opponents a lot, and he doesn’t mind getting hit. The result of this fighting style is that he’s got 5 wins by KO/TKO and as many losses by the same method.

However, most of his losses happened against elite strikers – Robocop Rodrigues, Bruno Silva, Edmen Shahbazyan, etc. Plus, he also went the distance with Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya.

Luckily for him, his next opponent isn’t as dangerous as those guys. The Iron Turtle (17-6) is a more well-rounded fighter, who’s famous for his toughness and stamina.

For all these reasons, we’re sure this fight will last for at least two and a half rounds.

Chris Barnett vs. Junior Tafa – Who’s Getting KO-ed?

Chris Barnett (23-8) is a 5’9 heavyweight who’s famous for his “plus-size” figure. Despite being chunky, he’s actually very athletic and super-quick with his kicks and punches. This guy lands 4.41 significant strikes per minute, which is significantly more than his next opponent Junior Tafa with a 1.67 average.

The result is that Barnett has 18 wins by KO/TKO in his portfolio. While Tafa (5-3) doesn’t land too many strikes, his punches are incredibly destructive, which explains why his knockout-to-tin ratio is 100%.

However, Tafa lost his two previous fights, both of which happened this year. He last fought in August and is coming back to the Octagon as a replacement for Waldo Cortes-Acosta, who was originally meant to fight Barnett at UFC Vegas 98.

That said, we don’t think he’s ready for a war with Barnett. That’s why our prediction is that Huggy Bear is going to maul him on October 12.

Other UFC Fight Night 244 Betting Picks

• Grant Dawson (-440) vs. Rafa Garcia (+340) – Grant Dawson
• Julia Polastri (-135) vs. Cory McKenna (+115) – Cory McKenna
• Abdul Razak Alhassan (-160) vs. Josh Fremd (+140) – Abdul Razak Alhassan
• Daniel Rodriguez (-185) vs. Alex Morono (+160) – Daniel Rodriguez
• Chidi Njokuani (-185) vs. Jared Gordon (+160) – Chidi Njoukani
• Themba Gorimbo (-300) vs. Niko Price (+250) – Themba Gorimbo
• Clayton Carpenter (-190) vs. Lucas Rocha (+165) – Clayton Carpenter
• Cody Haddon (-190) vs. Daniel Argueta (+165) – Daniel Argueta

There you have it, our UFC Fight Night 244 predictions. As you can see, we went for betting favorites in most of those fights, with a couple of notable exceptions. Chris Barnett is our favorite longshot pick, but there are two other bets with plus-money odds you mustn’t miss.

The first of those is Cory McKenna, who we think has what it takes to beat favored Julia Polastri, who’s stepping in on relatively short notice after McKenna’s original opponent Polyana Viana withdrew.

Our second underdog pick for UFC Fight Night 244 is Daniel Argueta. The guy is without a win in his last three fights, which means that he’s hungry for success. He’s going to throw everything he’s got at Cody Haddon, who’s never fought such a tough opponent before.

If you want to play it safe, however, stick with favorites such as Tatsuro Taira, Chris Barnett, and others.

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