Preview: UFC Vegas 108 ‘Taira vs. Park’

Lightweights

Elves Brener (16-5, 3-2 UFC) vs. Esteban Ribovics (14-2, 3-2 UFC)

Odds: Ribovics (-275); Brener (+200)

This should be a fun lightweight scrap. Ribovics appears to be the real deal; while he sits at 3-2 in the UFC, both of his decision losses could easily have been scored the other way. The 29-year-old Argentinian is a fast, hard-hitting striker who has faced his greatest difficulties against fighters who can either take him down, or force him into back-and-forth brawls. It is an admirable approach—all five of his UFC bouts have been exciting, and the last two have earned “Fight of the Night” bonuses—but it will probably put a hard ceiling on his upside in the division. It’s easy to forget that fighters like Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier hanging around the Top 5 for years is the historical exception rather than the rule.

Brener has overachieved in becoming a solid UFC lightweight in his own right. While he has power on the feet, especially in his punches, he is not especially technical, and his ground game is offensively potent but can be nullified by solid grapplers. Thus far, he has thrived on aggression, toughness and durability for as far as those could carry him, but he appears to have reached that limit against Joel Alvarez a year ago, where he simply could not go back and forth with a much bigger, harder-hitting foe.

Ribovics does not have quite the horsepower of an Alvarez, but if this turns into the kind of knock down, drag ‘em out brawl both men love, that scenario favors the Argentinian heavily. If the fight goes to the ground, especially when both men are relatively fresh, it becomes a completely different fight, but whether Brener will pursue that avenue to victory is questionable. As such, the pick here is Ribovics by decision in a likely frontrunner for “Fight of the Night” bonus checks.



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Taira vs. Park
Rebecki vs. Duncan
Brener vs. Ribovics
Rosa vs. Cornolle
Magny vs. Zaleski dos Santos
Vallejos vs. Silva
The Prelims