UFC Vegas 98 Preview
The UFC is returning to the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, October 12 for UFC Vegas 98. The main event will be in the flyweight division between former title challenger #1 Brandon Royval and rising phenom #5 Tatsuro Taira.
Royval rebounded from his title loss in 2023 with a split decision victory over two-time champion Brandon Moreno in February. The fight was a rematch in which Royval was able to avenge his loss to Moreno back in 2020. Royval is 4-1 in his last five fights and his only losses in the UFC have come to Moreno and current champion Alexandre Pantoja.
Oddsmakers have Royval as the underdog in this fight. How does he feel about that? “When I saw that I’m like, am I seeing something wrong or whatever. I’m one of the most underrated dudes in the flyweight division, I’ve been thinking that for years and I also think Taira might be one of the most overrated guys in this division right now, and no disrespect on him. I’ve trained with him, he seems like a very nice kid and I’m not trying to be disrespectful. I do believe he’ll be a champion one day but I think he’s overrated and I think I’m underrated,” Royval said.
Royval explained why he feels he is on a different level than Taira. “I’ve trained with him a lot of times and, like I said, the kid’s good I just think there’s levels to this sport and right now I’m at a different level than he is,” Royval said. “It’s unfortunate that we have to meet up (at this time) because I would love to help that kid win a belt but as of right now it’s my time and afterwards I wanna help him win a belt.”
Aside from Moreno, Royval has key wins over Matheus Nicolau, Matt Schnell, Rogerio Bontorin, Kai Kara-France and Tim Elliott. While he does sit as the #1 contender at Flyweight, he will need a convincing win on Saturday for his next fight to be a second title shot. He has already lost emphatically to champion Pantoja twice and right now a third fight between the two is not a draw. Royval can change all of that with a dynamic win over an undefeated contender in Taira.
Taira is coming off a TKO victory over former title challenger Alex Perez in which the fight was ruled a TKO after Perez injured his knee. He is 16-0 and is 6-0 in the UFC but he will the face the toughest challenge of his career on Saturday.
The 24-year-old spoke about the fight on Saturday. “Brandon Royval is very aggressive and a very good fighter, but I really want to show the fans and everyone in MMA that there is a new challenger in this flyweight champion contention. I want to get a big win and show it to all the fans,” Taira said.
Taira talked about becoming a champion. “I have to become a champion to see (what it takes), but by champion, I mean the world’s best. My dream is to definitely become the UFC champion and keep defending it to a point where everyone thinks that I am the world’s best fighter. Once I get there, I should have the pride of being the best fighter in the world.”
The Japanese fighter sits at number five in the rankings and many pundits believe his rise up the rankings has come too quickly. How does he feel? “I wouldn’t say (my rise up the division is happening) fast, but I would say it’s a good pace,” Taira said. “It’s been working well so far. I’m ranked No. 5 now and I definitely want to show the fans that I belong here and also I belong as a champion soon and become a very strong champion.”
Taira is trying to take a low-key approach into the biggest fight in his short UFC career. “If I start thinking of losing and stuff, I do get kind of scared,” Taira said. “But once the fight is coming and I start focusing, I don’t really even think about my record. I just really focus on the fight. That’s how much I love MMA. I just want to keep winning.”
The rest of the main card:
Middleweightv- Brad Tavares vs. Park Jun-yong
Welterweight - Chidi Njokuani vs. Jared Gooden
Lightweight - Grant Dawson vs. Rafa García
Welterweight - Daniel Rodriguez vs. Alex Morono
Middleweight - Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Josh Fremd
ESPN+ Prelims:
Flyweight - C.J. Vergara vs. Ramazan Temirov
Featherweight - Jonathan Pearce vs. Pat Sabatini
Welterweight - Themba Gorimbo vs. Niko Price
Heavyweight - Junior Tafa vs. Sean Sharaf
Women's Strawweight - Julia Polastri vs. Cory McKenna
Bantamweight - Daniel Argueta vs. Cody Haddon
Flyweight - Clayton Carpenter vs. Lucas Rocha
