Pereira said he plans on staying put at 205 pounds for the time being, but would like to move up to heavyweight someday. “Poatan” posted an image of interim heavyweight champion Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) watching him on, which has Sonnen salivating at the idea of a potential matchup between the two.
Although Aspinall’s grappling is expected to pose problems for Pereira, Sonnen isn’t sure if he’d succeed in getting to the necessary positions to take him down.
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“I cannot guarantee you that the younger, bigger guy in Tom would win,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “There’s just something special about Alex, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. But I don’t know that Tom has the skills to just go out and take him down, so we might have to take that off of the board.
“I think Alex would have a really hard time getting up because of the size, but to get him there, Tom’s probably going to want to trade, probably have a little bit of ego like everybody else of, ‘Let me show all of you,’ and it might work out for him. But, it just might be a very dangerous proposition as well.”
Aspinall currently awaits the winner of the heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic, which headlines UFC 309 on Nov. 16 in New York. But with Jones and a couple of his coaches hinting that “Bones” could be making the final walk at Madison Square Garden, Aspinall’s future is uncertain.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.
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MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom goes in-depth to break down the biggest fights in the UFC. Today, he takes a closer look at the UFC Fight Night 244 main event: Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira (ESPN+).
Supplemental info: + LFA flyweight title + Amateur MMA accolades + Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt + 4 KO victories + 9 submission wins + 10 first-round finishes + KO power + Aggressive pace and pressure + Active feints and footwork + Diverse shot selection ^ Coming forward or off the counter + Dangerous knees and elbows + Active and urgent scrambler ^ Good granby rolls + Excellent transitional grappler ^ Opportunistic submission threat +/- 3-2 inside the UFC Apex
Supplemental info: + Shooto flyweight title + Amateur MMA accolades + 5 knockout victories + 7 submission wins + 8 first-round finishes + Consistent pace and pressure + Good sense of range ^ Measures distance well + Steadily improving striking ^ Hard kicks from the left side + Strong inside the clinch + Solid takedown ability ^ Chains well against the fence + Excellent transitional grappler ^ Superb back-taker +/- 1-0 against UFC-level southpaws +/- 5-0 in the UFC Apex
Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira point of interest: Flyweight fisticuffs counters
Dec 16, 2023; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Alexandre Pantoja (red gloves) fights Brandon Royval (blue gloves) during UFC 296 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
The main event in Las Vegas features an important battle between top-ranked flyweights, Brandon Royval and Tatsuro Taira.
Royval, who is more of a free-flowing stylist, is at his best when seizing the striking initiative through his dynamic southpaw offerings.
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Akin to many Factory-X fighters, Royval utilizes some crafty feints and footwork that helps both setup and pull out offense. Once he gets a beat to his liking, Royval quickly responds with solid combinations which are often punctuated with dangerous kicks and knees.
When Royval’s feeling in stride, he will incorporate slick spinning assaults either coming forward or off the counter. That said, the former title challenger is not beyond being countered for his aggression.
Enter Taira.
Fighting his frame and stylistic sensibilities, Taira will typically look to play all the way in or all the way out when it comes to his operating range. At distance, Taira looks to set up long straight shots off his in-and-out movement. When feeling in stride, Taira will attach solid kicks to his combinations (particularly off of his lead side).
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Taira has also shown a solid ability to strike into collar ties, which could come in handy when it comes to corralling a sporadic and dynamic Royval.
Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira breakdown: Protect your neck
Jul 8, 2023; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Tatsuro Taira (red gloves) fights Edgar Chairez (blue gloves) during UFC 290 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Considering both the stylistic dynamic and the fighting terrain, winning the wrestling will arguably be paramount for both parties this weekend.
A talented back-taker who is steadily rounding out his surrounding skill set, Taira appears to have no illusions as to where his bread is buttered. Not only is Taira patient when it comes to setting up his shots, but the Japanese fighter does not seem easily discouraged when failing on his first attempt.
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Akin to great MMA grapplers like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Taira looks to be perfectly content with using his first shot to drive his opposition toward the octagon walls. From there, Taira will chain to and from single-legs to trip takedowns that allow him to drag the fight into his world.
Nevertheless, Taira will still need to be mindful of his neck when committing to takedowns opposite a front-headlock threat like Royval.
A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Royval is an opportunistic submission threat who isn’t afraid to play in the proverbial dirt.
Whether he’s operating off his back or seeking out fight-ending submissions in scrambles, Royval is constantly looking to capitalize in the chaos. That said, Royval does have the propensity to allow for back exposure in said scrambles given his love for tactics like granby rolls.
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Royval did show improved awareness for back exposure in his title attempt against the criminally disrespected Alexandre Pantoja, but the American still surrendered a ton of control time spamming unsuccessful submissions and strikes from the bottom.
I’ll be curious to see what getup options Royval will use this time around given that he’s facing another backpacking threat.
Taira may still be developing large parts of his game, but the 24-year-old’s back-taking abilities are potent beyond his years. Whether Taira is looking for rear-naked chokes or baiting escapes that lead to armlocks, the native of Japan will be extremely dangerous anytime he attaches himself to Royval.
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Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira odds
The oddsmakers and the public are favoring the Japanese fighter, listing Taira -290 and Royval +215 via FanDuel.
Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira prediction, pick
Tatsuro Taira
Between the oddsmakers loving undefeated fighters to MMA gamblers’ borderline-creepy age obsession, seeing the younger Taira get steamed with support on the betting lines comes as no shock here.
Although I’m happy to finally see an Asian fighter getting love from the fanbase and promotion alike, I’d suggest tempering expectations to anyone mimicking the unwarranted glazing that Michael Bisping was doing to the Japanese prospect last time out (in a fight where he was technically down on the cards before winning by injury over the continually disrespected Alex Perez, by the way).
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But gross celebrations over potentially career-altering injuries aside, Taira quietly showed a lot to like his last time out.
From his ability to play distance with interceptions in tow to his newfound collar ties and clinch connections, the foundation of Taira’s game is starting to resemble Islam Makhachev. And inside of the smaller octagon of the Apex, Taira’s game only becomes more potent.
Aside from being a fan of Royval’s style and his camp, I’m hoping that he can survive the early rounds and extend Taira so that we can see more of the 24-year-old as well. But between this fight being in the small cage to Royval’s propensity to get controlled by top grapplers, I have a feeling that “Raw Dawg” may end up having to rely more on deterrents like knees and front-choke threats than perhaps he’d like to.
Add in the fact that injury-style TKOs are always on the table when it comes to fighters like Royval or Sean O’Malley (as freak injuries historically seem to happen to long and lanky fighters who are large for the lower weight classes), and I can’t help but favor Taira in this spot.
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I’ll officially pick Taira to find a submission by the end of Round 2.
Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira start time, where to watch
As the main event in Las Vegas, Royval and Taira are expected to make their walks to the octagon at approximately 9:45 p.m. ET. The event streams on ESPN+.
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder says he has been left “stunned and numb” by the death of George Baldock.
The England-born Greece international was found dead in the swimming pool of his house in Glyfada, southern Athens on Wednesday at the age of 31.
Baldock left Bramall Lane for Panathinaikos in the summer after making 219 appearances for the Blades, with the majority of them coming under the leadership of Wilder, who is in his second stint in charge of the club.
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A visibly emotional Wilder paid tribute to the right-back, who he described as a “huge personality” and key figure in the club’s promotions to the Premier League in 2019 and 2023.
“Obviously through your life you lose people that you love and you respect, but this just feels completely different to everybody. Everybody’s just absolutely stunned and numb really. It is just tragic,” Wilder said.
A fan favourite, Baldock was known as ‘Starman’ to Sheffield United supporters, who would often sing to the tune of the David Bowie song of the same name as the full-back raced down the right flank.
“He wasn’t one to grab the headlines but George was a huge personality, a huge driver, a huge culture carrier in everything we did,” Wilder added, in an interview released by the club., external
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“He was a humble person. We had rows, we had bust-ups, but we were all driving it forward and after the same outcome in everything that we did.
“Just even thinking about it now, families have lost a son, players have lost a brother. Those boys that went to battle with George, and he stood up to every challenge.
“He was an absolute pleasure to manage. He gave his maximum in everything he did and that’s what every Sheffield United fan wants.”
The UFC Vegas 98 weigh-in video features 26 fighters stepping on the scale Friday morning in Las Vegas. Watch a live stream of the official weigh-ins above, courtesy of Ag. Fight.
In the main event, Brandon Royval and Tatsuro Taira have to hit the flyweight limit of 126 pounds for the non-title fight.
Royval has won four of his past five fights, while Taira has never suffered a professional loss (16-0 overall, 6-0 in the UFC).
The UFC Vegas 98 official weigh-ins begin at 12 p.m. ET.
T.J. Dillashaw thinks Jose Aldo only has himself to blame for losing to Mario Bautista.
Aldo (32-9 MMA, 14-8 UFC) was edged out by Bautista (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in a split decision loss this past Saturday at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City. Although he wasn’t taken down in the fight, fans were left frustrated after Bautista pressed Aldo against the cage in Round 3, with little to no activity.
Dillashaw was surprised to see Aldo let Bautista just hold him, and thinks the former UFC featherweight champion should have shown a sense of urgency to get his back off the cage.
“My frustration is coming from, how the f*ck does Aldo not know how to get off the cage?” Dillashaw said on the Jaxxon Podcast. “It’s almost like he’s willing to chill here because he doesn’t want to get tired. He can get out so easy. (Bautista) got his wrong leg forward, so he’s got to right underhook and his right leg will be forward.
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“That is the easiest thing to get off the cage, every time. It surprises me when a world champion, there’s techniques like this that he doesn’t get off the cage. (A lot of people) thought Aldo should’ve won. To be honest, I don’t know. He kept himself here. I’m not too mad. He lost the fight himself.”
Dillashaw thinks Aldo’s strategy was to reserve energy, but failing to break free from against the cage is a bad look for the judges.
“You’re just chancing it,” Dillashaw said. “You’re chancing it to this judge – he’s controlling me against the cage, rather than take all f*cking chance out of it, circle off the cage. The same mentality I go in every fight is you have to f*cking kill me. You’re not going to hold me down, you’re not going to hold me against the cage. I’m going to do what I want to do.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.
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Two new matchups have been added to UFC 309, the pay-per-view card that marks the return of the octagon to Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16.
The company announced Friday that Oban Elliott and Bassil Hafez will face off in a welterweight battle in New York, while Lucas Almeida and David Onama revealed on their social media that they have also agreed to fight on the card.
Hafez (9-4-1) defeated Mickey Gall this past June in Newark, rebounding from a split decision loss to Jack Della Maddalena in his promotional debut a year before.
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Elliott (11-2) looks to go 3-0 in the UFC after a pair of decision victories over Val Woodburn and Preston Parsons this year that improved his pro record to 7-0 since 2022.
Onama (12-2) has won four of six inside the octagon and enters the cage on a two-fight winning streak. He missed weight for his most recent victory, a decision over Jonathan Pearce, and won a Performance of the Night bonus for his previous knockout against Gabriel Santos.
Almeida (15-3) had his hands raised via decision when he most recently fought in the UFC, beating Timmy Cuamba after three rounds to bring his UFC record to 2-2.
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