Preview: UFC Vegas 108 ‘Taira vs. Park’

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns from the UAE to its de facto home base at the Apex in Las Vegas for a two-week residency before hitting the road for UFC 319 in Chicago. Sandwiched between a couple of major events for the promotion, it is perhaps unsurprising that the next two Fight Nights are a bit on the lean side, and of the two, this Saturday’s UFC Vegas 108, also known as UFC on ESPN 71, is the lesser on paper.

An already thin lineup for Saturday’s card took a major hit when headliner Amir Albazi was forced to withdraw from his booking with Tatsuro Taira less than two weeks from fight night. The promotion salvaged what could have been a disaster in a big way, however, when undefeated Hyun Sung Park stepped up on short notice to fill the bill. With that compelling substitute matchup in place, two very violent-looking lightweight matchups beneath it, and a women’s bantamweight tilt that ironically features the only pairing of ranked fighters on the whole card, UFC Vegas 108 is not without its charms.

Now on to the preview for the UFC on ESPN 71 main card:

Men’s Flyweights

Tatsuro Taira (16-1; 6-1 UFC) vs. Hyun Sung Park (10-0; 3-0 UFC)

Odds: Taira (-250); Park (+200)

With all due respect to Albazi, this may be an equally interesting and relevant matchup to the one originally planned, if only because Park is younger, still undefeated and less tested against the top names in the division. The 29-year-old Korean has been dazzling in winning his first three UFC bouts inside the distance—five, if you count his fights on Road to UFC—but considering that those wins included no fighters above .500 in the promotion, this matchup represents an enormous step up in competition.

Park is a big, athletic flyweight with good power who works the body diligently. While he is a capable wrestler and grappler who actually counts more wins by submission than knockout at the moment, he seems to prefer to keep things standing until his opponent decides to try and bring the fight to the ground. If there is any room to criticize an undefeated fighter who has been largely dominant over the last few years, it is that he can be lulled into a slow-paced fight that does not put his potent offensive tools to their best use: Shannon Ross washed out of the UFC at 0-3, and Park was the only one of those opponents who let “The Turkish Delight” survive the first minute of the fight.

Taira shares some of the same physical advantages as his foe here. The 25-year-old Okinawan is tall and rangy for the division, if not quite as powerfully built as Park, and is a fast, fluid athlete. He is an preternaturally gifted grappler who has developed a wrestling attack that works well with his natural traits, and an accurate striker with decent power. A sensational overall prospect, the main quibble with his performances so far has been a failure to take control of his fights. Like Park, Taira can sometimes become too patient, allowing vastly overmatched opponents to hang out too long, or rounds to be closer than they should, rather than pressing the issue.

Those faults were highlighted in Taira’s October loss to Brandon Royval, a fight in which Taira appeared to be a match for his opponent skill for skill but was continually kept on his heels by Royval’s sheer aggression. Whether reacting to an immediate heel hook attempt after taking Royval down or wilting late as “Raw Dawg” pelted him with punches, he simply seemed slower to react to positions, and thus constantly on the defensive and getting the worst of things.

Despite the enormous upside these two young competitors exhibit—it would not be outlandish to suggest that one or both will fight for UFC titles in the next five years—this fight has the potential to be a snoozer, considering that both men have struggled with pace and one of them is coming in on very short notice. However, the pick here is that Taira will come out ready for battle, having used the Royval fight as a learning moment, and that Park will be unusually aggressive as well, knowing that he may not have five rounds’ worth of gas in the tank.

If that is the case, one likely scenario involves Park catching Taira with something big on the feet, and another involves Taira taking Park down early. While Park is a very solid grappler in his own right, the skill gap there should be stark, to the point that Taira may be able to outgrapple him even if he’s hurt. The pick is Taira by second-round submission.



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Taira vs. Park
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