Final night time (Sat., Sept. 28, 2024), Final Preventing Championship (UFC) returned house final night time (Sat., Oct. 12, 2024) inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada for UFC Vegas 98. In the principle occasion, Flyweight contenders Brandon Royval and Tatsuro Taira fought to safe a shot at 125-pound gold. That bout was far and away an important combat respective to the title mixture of any division, however the remainder of the fights appear to vow motion … however sadly didn’t actually ship a lot on that finish both. All informed, there actually weren’t a ton of different highlights outdoors of some fast finishes.
Regardless, let’s have a look again over at UFC Vegas 98’s finest performances and strategies:
Picture by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Royval’s Veteran Win
Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira was the one combat on the cardboard that delivered elite motion for greater than a pair minutes. The 2 Flyweight contenders completely went to conflict, demonstrating their expertise and techniques on the expense of the opposite. Spherical by spherical, the momentum swung back-and-forth, making for a combat that was each extremely aggressive and really simple to attain.
Sal D’Amato nonetheless one way or the other screwed it up, however that’s to be anticipated.
Royval’s benefit on the toes took about 90 seconds to materialize. For that opening minute or so, Taira appeared like he may have the ability to time Royval’s offense along with his counter proper hand and use kicks to destabilize his stance. As quickly as Royval started throwing together, nonetheless, Taira regarded wildly uncomfortable and began getting pieced up.
Fortuitously, the Japanese prospect continues to be a wizard on the ground. His again takes and transitions are genuinely lovely to look at, and Taira’s again management and response to Royval’s would-be counters was probably the very best I’ve ever seen. He actually regarded like a grasp, completely shutting Royval down on the ground for 2 of the 4 rounds.
Like an on the spot traditional, all of it got here right down to the fifth. With a fatigued Taira in entrance of him, Royval was capable of field up his foe and reverse takedowns, placing an thrilling stamp on a back-and-forth combat.
No one needs to look at Pantoja vs. Royval 3, however as quickly because the Brazilian loses his belt, give Royval one other shot.
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Dawson 2.0?
It’s time to present Grant Dawson one other alternative to climb the Light-weight ranks.
He’s higher than these unranked Lightweights, and in opposition to Rafa Garcia final night time, Dawson was positively violent. He managed each second of the combat main into the second, when he landed a vicious elbow that break up open Garcia. With a wounded foe in entrance of him, Dawson superior into mount and rapidly punished his foe for the TKO stoppage.
At 30 years of age, Dawson improves to 10-1-1 within the UFC. Clearly, he’s a really expert Light-weight, so hopefully this end helps push him again into related match ups.
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Sabatini Bounces Again
It wasn’t all that way back that Pat Sabatini was a prime Featherweight prospect, and he simply reminded combat followers why. Jonathan Pearce is a wonderful wrestler with nice physicality, however Sabatini was capable of run by way of him in brief vogue.
Sabatini is a genuinely top-notch grappler, one in all Featherweight’s finest. He struggled with Pearce’s takedown protection for a second, however he was capable of transition onto his again anyway. As soon as Pearce was trapped in Sabatini’s typical chain of takedowns and prime management, he simply couldn’t peel Sabatini off him. By the top of the spherical, Sabatini had taken his again once more and locked within the choke.
It’s a hell of a strategy to snap a two-fight dropping streak.
Picture by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Extra Ideas
Ramazan Temirov defeats CJ Vergara by way of first-round knockout: It’s nice to see the debut of a brand new Flyweight prospect! The division has expertise across the globe that has but to be picked up by the UFC. Temirov had already proved himself within the RIZIN ring, constructing a powerful 17-2 report at 27 years of age. His debut couldn’t have gone significantly better: he completely steamrolled Vergara, knocking him down roughly thrice within the opening spherical to power referee intervention. The Uzbek has now received ten in a row, and it may be time to quick monitor him to a ranked opponent.
Junior Tafa defeats Sean Sharaf by way of second-round knockout: TOUGHMAN NEVER DIE! Man, this was a throwback Heavyweight combat within the worst method. At occasions, I used to be reminded of Kimbo Slice vs. DaDa 5000. Each males entered this combat with about 4 minutes of conditioning, however no less than Sharaf had the excuse of accepting the combat on very brief discover. At any fee, the 2 brawled tiredly for a lot of the first spherical, as Tafa’s sharper boxing was pit in opposition to Sharaf’s occasional takedowns. In the end, boxing received out, as Sharaf grew too drained to wrestle, leaving him weak to a ripping left hook that initiated the ending sequence.
Clayton Carpenter defeats Lucas Rocha by way of second-round submission: Carpenter improved to 2-0 contained in the Octagon on the energy of his wrestling and grappling. Rocha’s UFC debut, conversely, went poorly even when his standup regarded sharp. Actually, the largest takeaway right here for me was Carpenter’s uncooked measurement and energy for 125-pounds. He has an incredible base from which to construct, so it’ll be fascinating to see how his expertise develop as he tries to climb the Flyweight ladder.
For full UFC Vegas 98 outcomes and play-by-play, click on right here.
