Karl Williams survives being wobbled, defeats Justin Tafa in UFC Vegas 89 co-main event
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, March 23, 2024, for UFC Vegas 89, going down live from the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada.
Headlining the event is a women’s strawweight bout between no. 7 ranked Amanda Ribas (13-4) and former two-time UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas (11-6).
Co-headlining the event was a heavyweight bout between Karl Williams (10-1) and Justin Tafa (7-4).
Originally, Justin’s brother Junior was expected to face Williams at this event. However, Justin was slated to face Marcos Rogerio De Lima in February at UFC 298; Justin withdrew from that contest the day of weigh ins due to a minor injury, and was replaced by Junior.
In turn, the abuse Junior took to his lead leg in that fight ultimately led to Justin taking this fight for him.
Quite an uncanny and ironic turn of events really.
Continue reading to see how our co-main event of the evening went down:
Official Result: Karl Williams def. Justin Tafa via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Williams looks to get his right cross going early on in the bout, just missing each attempt. Tafa landed a hard round kick to the body, soon after landing a vicious overhand right that badly hurt Williams. Tafa follows up with an uppercut before going for a flying knee, which led to Williams’ first takedown of the fight.
Though Tafa was able to work his way back up, he was ultimately taken down three more times before the first round was over.
Tafa looked good on the feet through the opening half of the second, stuffing Williams’ takedown attempt and asserting his dominance on the feet. But, he goes for a head kick in an exchange and ends up on his back again, remaining on bottom for the second half of the middle stretch.
Tafa once again hurt Williams at the start of round three, absolutely unloading on him in search of the finish.
Williams was able to get him back down however, and kept him there for a good portion of the round. Once Tafa finally returned to his feet with just over a minute left in the fight, he was again taken down in search of the finish.
Justin Tafa had his moments in this fight, but he wasn’t able to secure a finish and was ultimately out-wrestled.
Karl Williams on the other hand improves to 3-0 inside the octagon tonight at UFC Vegas 89.
If you enjoyed this piece, feel free to share it on social media!
