Preview: UFC Fight Night 188 ‘Font vs. Garbrandt’

Heavyweights

NR | Justin Tafa (4-2, 1-2 UFC) vs. NR | Jared Vanderaa (11-5, 0-1 UFC)

ODDS: Tafa (-175), Vanderaa (+155)

This fight has surprisingly high placement on this card, but at least Tafa has developed a reputation as an exciting fighter. Australia’s Tafa surely made it to the UFC a bit too soon—his Octagon debut was his fourth professional fight—but “Bad Man” has shown some promise for being quite raw. A Mark Hunt protege, Tafa has some decent ideas but can quickly get wild, which caused him to lose that UFC debut via spectacularly brutal knockout against Yorgan De Castro. Tafa rebounded with a quick knockout of Juan Adams, and his January bout against Carlos Felipe was an entertaining back-and-forth brawl, even if it turned into a complete mess down the stretch once both men got tired.

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Tafa dropped the decision in that bout and looks to rebound against Vanderaa, who is looking to turn things around after an unsuccessful UFC debut of his own. Vanderaa’s contract-clinching performance on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020 was not particularly promising, as he mostly leaned on his size against a game Harry Hunsucker. Even so, his combination of mass and durability figured to make him an interesting addition to the UFC’s heavyweight ranks. His promotional debut went about as poorly as possible, as Sergey Spivak had little issue outwrestling Vanderaa and pounding out a stoppage win. Vanderaa may be able to win this just by outlasting Tafa, but the Aussie figures to hit him a lot first and likely before things get to that point. The pick is Tafa via first-round knockout.

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