Brandon Royval vs Tatsuro Taira Prediction: We'll See an Outcome in Round 2

On the night of 13th October in the United States, UFC Vegas 98 will be held. The main event will be a fight between American Brandon Royval and Tatsuro Taira from Japan. The bout will be held in the lightweight category, with Royval currently ranked first and Taira fifth in the UFC rankings for this division. 

Brandon Royval is a baseline wrestler, so he's likelier to win by submission than knockout. But he's also pretty solid on his feet. Brandon joined the UFC in 2020 as the American LFA champion and has enjoyed much success here. He has suffered three losses, but they were to champions - past and present. Royval lost twice to Alexandre Pantoja (once in a title bout) and Brandon Moreno. He made it to the top of the rankings without any problems, and in his last fight, he got a rematch against Moreno. That fight was pretty close, but Royval managed to take the third round and the end, dominating in punch exchanges and taking him down.

Tatsuro Taira joined the UFC two years ago as a Shooto champion and immediately made some noise. He's already fought six times in the top league, winning all four of them early. Tatsuro has an undefeated record, and in his last bout, he beat Alex Perez by technical knockout due to injury.

We expect a lot of action in the fight between the former belt challenger and the young Japanese prospect. That said, Royval will probably try to fight on his feet, but Taira will oppose, and his so-called 'unclassical' jiu-jitsu will help keep the fight near the floor. Bookmakers see the Japanese as the favorite, but we wouldn't be so sure – we expect a tight and brutal bout where both will make mistakes and show some great defensive moves. In this case, we dont think it is wise to bet on the judges' points.