UFC On ESPN 71: Taira vs. Park takes place on Sunday (AEDT) at the Apex Arena in Las Vegas, United States. – and we’ve got our UFC predictions for all the fights below, and you can place your bets with the best betting sites Australia has to offer!
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UFC On ESPN 71 Predictions
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Tatusro Taira vs. Hyun-Sung Park Prediction
Tatsuro Taira’s six-fight winning streak in the UFC came to end last time out with a split-decision loss to Brandon Royval and next up he was supposed to be fighting Amir Albazi. However, an injury forced his opponent out, so former ‘Road To UFC’ winner Hyun-Sung Park now steps in on six days notice with a perfect 10-0 career record so far.
A former Shooto champion in Japan, The 25-year-old Taira was unbeaten until his last fight against Royval, but it was still a close, competitive battle against a recent title contender. On the feet Taira is a good sized lightweight who will hold a 4″ reach advantage over Park, and he’ll make use of that with his clean technique and good accuracy from range. Taira’s ground game is an asset, having reasonable takedown ability and strong control on top, while two of his seven submission wins have come during his time in the UFC.
The 29-year-old Park won three fights in the Octagon to become the ‘Road To UFC’ Season 1 flyweight winner back in 2023, and has since notched up a further two victories. Park is less active than Taira on the feet, preferring a more patient approach. He’s more dangerous on the mat though, demonstrating good finishing instincts there, with 9 of his 10 fights ending inside the distance with a nice mix of strikes and submissions. That being said, Park has yet to meet anybody of any real note in the division, so this is a major step-up in competition for him to be going up against the No.6 ranked Taira on less than a week’s notice.
Taira has the higher level experience and the well-rounded skills to deal with the challenges Park presents. Having already had a full fight camp in preparation for a five-round main event I think he has to be favored here to gain control as the fight goes on to emerge with a decision victory.
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Mateusz Rebecki vs. Chris Duncan Prediction
Mateusz Rebecki is 4-1 in the UFC so far and coincidentally so is his next opponent, Chris Duncan.
Rebecki went almost nine years without suffering a loss until he was TKO’d by Diego Ferreira last year, but he’s since got back to winning ways with a hard-fought split-decision victory over Myktybek Orolbal. The short, stocky Rebecki will be at a 4″ height and 5″ reach disadvantage on Saturday night, but that’s nothing he hasn’t seen before. He’s a strong, powerfully built fighter who is willing to press forward and throws both heavy-handed punches and impactful kicks, and he has good volume. He also has solid takedowns and can be a threat with both submissions and ground-and-pound on top. Cardio can be a concern for Rebecki late in fights due to his high-energy approach.
The 32-year-old Duncan arrived in the UFC as a good-sized, gritty striker with a willingness eat strikes to land his own, demonstrating solid punching power, good durability and a battle-ready mentality. While he did have some initial success and has 7 finishes via strikes to his name there were doubts about how far that strategy could take him. However, more recently Duncan has shown there’s more to his game than that by notching up two submission wins in a row, both by guillotine choke.
There could be some good back-and-forth action here given that both fighters aren’t afraid to throw down, but I think Duncan’s lack of caution defensively will enable Rebecki to find a home for his punches, while I also feel he’s good enough to get the better of him on the mat too. I’ll take Rebecki to win by TKO in Rd2.
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Elves Brener vs. Estaban Ribovics Prediction
Elves Brener comes in off back-to-back defeats to take on Estaban Ribovics, whose split-decision loss last time out ended a three-fight winning streak.
The 27-year-old Brener started his UFC run brightly with three wins in a row. Up until that point it was a proven grappler on the regional circuit, having amassed 11 submission finishes. Brener is also willing to throw down on the feet though, and while he’d only earned one stoppage victory via strikes prior to joining the UFC, he unexpectedly picked up TKO and KO wins in two of his first three UFC appearances. Clean technique certainly wasn’t a calling card for him though, instead going for more of a hard-headed, brute force approach that generated power, but left him exposed defensively. That has since caught up to him though as he was TKO’d for the first time in his career by Joel Alvarez last time out, and has also been beaten on the scorecards by Myktybek Orolbai.
The 29-year-old Ribovics is a battle-hardened striker whose split-decision win in a back-and-forth war with Daniel Zellhuber at Noche UFC last September was considered one of the best fights of the year. However, he’s since come out on the wrong size of another split-decision verdict against Nasrat Haqparast earlier this year. Ribovics applies constant pressure on the feet with his high-output striking and good power. he is also very tough, showing the kind of warrior spirit needed to battle back from moments of adversity in his fights, and he’s never been stopped by either strikes or submission. While he likes to keep the fight standing, he did pick up a number of submission wins early in his career, including three stoppages in a row via kimura.
If this fight remains standing then I favor Ribovics here as he’s the more robust, effective and hard-hitting striker of the two. On the other hand, if Brener can get the fight to the mat then I’d give him the edge there, but I’m not convinced he’ll be able to consistently get the takedowns he needs, so I’m taking Ribovics to win a competitive fight on the scorecards.
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Karol Rosa vs. Nora Cornolle Prediction
Karol Rosa is coming off a unanimous decision that continues a three year pattern of alternating between wins and losses. Next up she faces Nora Cornolle, who is 3-1 in the UFC so far.
The 30-year-old Rosa won her first four UFC fights in a row with a style that saw her setting a fast tempo with high-output striking and good cardio. Rosa’s not been able to maintain that early momentum though, with an inconsistent run of form in recent years resulting in three wins and four losses. Over time it’s become clear she lacks consistency and a cutting edge, having never found a finish in her 12 UFC appearances so far, and while she’s a functional grappler offensively, she can be taken down and outwrestled.
Cornolle is 35-years-old and actually only started competing professionally in 2021, amassing a 9-2 record in the four years since. She is also a striker, but she’s not as active as Rosa offensively. She has shown better power and finishing instincts though, with six wins via strikes and two via submission in her career so far, though she hasn’t faced the consistent higher level of competition that her more experienced opponent has over the years. Like Rosa she can grapple to an extent, but has poor takedown defense.
There’s not a whole lot to choose between these two, but I do feel that Rosa’s experience and higher work rate on the feet will result in her getting the nod on the judges scorecards here.
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Neil Magny vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos Prediction
Neil Magny suffered 1st round KO and TKO losses in the latter of last year and will now try to turn things around against fellow veteran Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, who was TKO’d in his last appearance and has lost two of his last three fights.
Magny will turn 38-years-old the day after this fight, and so he’ll be hoping to celebrate by shaking off concerns that his chin is now compromised following those swift back-to-back losses to strikes last year. Truth be told, Magny’s form has been slipping for a while now as he’s actually only won three of his last eight fights over the past few years, though to be fair he has been continually going up against quality opponents. Magny may not be the biggest threat to leading contenders these days, but as a vastly experienced veteran with a jack-of-all-trades skill-set and good conditioning he can cause problems for others. At 6ft 3″ tall with an 80″ reach his best striking work comes from distance, looking to keep his opponents at bay by staying active with straight punches and kicks, but he doesn’t have much in the way of stopping power to discourage determined strikers from closing the distance. Magny fares better when he embraces the grind in the clinch while mixing in some offensive wrestling. Magny has been susceptible to submissions at times though, and an increasingly questionable chin also makes him more vulnerable nowadays.
At 38-years-old, time is also catching up to Zaleski dos Santos, but though he was TKO’d last time out, that was only the second time in his 35-fight career that he’d been stopped by strikes, with the other one dating back over six years ago. A dynamic striker with a background in Capoeira and muay thai, Zaleski dos Santos has plenty of flashy strikes at his disposal and good power, but he also understands the efficiency and effectiveness of fundamentals too and fights strategically rather than recklessly. Zaleski dos Santos also has a capable grappling game too, though it’s likely he’ll be looking to keep this fight standing on this occasion.
Zaleski dos Santos will have to navigate a 4″ height and 7″ reach advantage here, but despite his TKO loss last time out I don’t think he’ll fear what Magny has to offer on the feet and will look to march him down with heavier-hitting strikes and debilitating low kicks. I’d expect Magny to be trying to clinch early and often here to negate that threat, but I feel Zaleski dos Santos will make the most of his striking opportunities and deliver a 2nd round TKO finish.
Danny Silva vs. Kevin Vallejos Prediction
Two Contender Series recruits open up the main card, with Danny Silva having gone 2-0 in the UFC so far, while Kevin Vallejos won his debut by TKO in March.
The 28-year-old Silva holds a 10-1 career record overall so far, including a three-fight stint in the LFA promotion. At the start of his career he racked up four TKO finishes in a row, but since then he’s primarily been getting the job done on the scorecards, employing a pressure-heavy striking game that emphasizes high-volume offense and good conditioning rather than raw stopping power, while he can wrestle too. That’s worked for ‘The Puma’ so far, though both his wins in the octagon to date against Joshua Culibao and Lucas Almeida were closely contested enough that left him having to settle for split-decision victories.
Vallejos is only 23-years-old, but already holds a 15-1 record. His only defeat so far came in his first Contender Series appearance in 2023, and losing by unanimous decision to Jean Silva doesn’t seem so bad in hindsight given that his opponent is now proving to be a serious contender in the UFC. A few more wins on the regional circuit and Vallejos landed another Contender Series spot, which he made the most of with a 1st round TKO finish, and then finished Seung Woo Choi in the same fashion in his UFC debut. Vallejos will be at a 4″ height and 2″ reach disadvantage on Saturday night, but he has compact, hard-hitting boxing ability that’s led him to 11 wins via strikes so far, while he can kick too, and is able to mix things up on the mat too if required.
Silva always looks to bring the fight to his opponent, but he eats strikes in return and Vallejos will be ready to match his intensity and wields the bigger firepower here, so I think he’ll emerge with a 2nd round TKO finish.
UFC On ESPN 71: Taira vs. Park Prelims
(Predicted winners in bold)
Rinya Nakamura vs. Nathan Fletcher
Rodolfo Vieira vs. Tresean Gore
Nick Klein vs. Andrey Pulyaev
Austin Bashi vs. John Yannis
Rafael Estevam vs. Felipe Bunes
Piera Rodriguez vs. Ketlen Souza
