UFC On ESPN 71 Predictions

UFC On ESPN 71 takes place tomorrow night in Las Vegas and we’ve got our predictions for all the fights below.

Main Card

Tatsuro Taira vs. Hyun-Sung Park

Tatsuro Taira lost out to Brandon Royval via split-decision last time out to end a six-fight winning run. Taira had been scheduled to fight Amir Albazi next, but due to an injury he’ll now be facing a short-notice replacement in ‘Road To UFC’ winner Hyun-Sung Park, who comes in on six days notice and is currently undefeated in his 10-fight career.

The 25-year-old Taira had managed to stay unbeaten for the first 16 fights of his UFC career prior to his narrow loss to former title contender Royval last time out. Taira is an athletic, well-rounded fighter and will have a 4″ reach advantage over Park on Saturday night. He likes to strike from range and has clean, accurate offense, but his best work tends to come on the mat as he’s a skilled grappler and capable wrestler who has good control on top and has seven submission wins on his record, two of which have come in the UFC.

The unbeaten Park fought his way to a full UFC contract by fighting in the ‘Road To UFC’ Season 1, finishing all three of his bouts inside the distance, and he’s since gone on to notch up a TKO and submission win in the promotion. The 29-year-old has respectable power, but tends to adopt quite a patient approach on the feet, and as such is at risk of being less active than Taira. Park does have a solid mix of grappling and wrestling though and has proven to be a finisher on the mat thanks to both his submission and ground-and-pound. The caveat however is that he’s yet to face any notable competition and as such is still unranked, so this is a major step up for him on short notice.

It’ll be good to see how Park fares at this level, but he’s at an immediate disadvantage given that Taira has had a full fight camp to prepare for a five-rounder, and in addition to also having had much more high-level experience he’ll also be comfortable mixing it up with his opponent wherever the fight goes, leading him to a win on the scorecards.

Pick: Tatsuro Taira wins by decision.

Mateusz Rębecki vs. Chris Duncan

Both Mateusz Rebecki and Chris Duncan have made a solid start to their time in the UFC, with each coming into this fight with a 4-1 record in the Octagon.

The 32-year-old Rebecki wields a 20-2 overall record and had actually been on a nine-year unbeaten run until he was TKO’d by Diego Ferreira last year. However, Rebecki has since returned to winning ways with a split-decision win over Myktybek Orolbai. Rebecki has a short, stocky build that will put him at a 4″ height and 5″ reach disadvantage over Duncan, but that won’t phase him as he’s a tough, determined and physically strong fighter who likes to press the action. He’ll pressure his opponents with active offense, landing heavy-handed punches and thudding kicks, and can also mix things up with strong-man takedowns, impactful ground-and-pound and a submission threat. Rebecki has finished 16 of his 20 wins inside the distance, but is able to get the job done on the scorecards too, though his cardio can visibly start to fade late in his fights due to his energetic style.

The 32-year-old Duncan is a tall striking with a warrior mentality, showing a willingness to eat strikes to land his own, while showcasing solid power and a sturdy chin. And that led him to seven wins in a row at the start of his MMA career, including a couple of TKO finishes in the Bellator promotion, but a KO loss to Vaicheslav Borshchev on the Contender Series showed the pitfalls of his style. Nevertheless, Duncan got back to winning ways and claimed a spot in the UFC, and things have gone fairly well so far, aside from a first round submission loss early last year that once again suggested potential flaws in his game. Interestingly though, Duncan has since shown another side to his game by earning back-to-back guillotine submission wins.

So Duncan has been doing better than anticipated in the UFC so far, but I do think Rebecki is the better all-round fighter here, and given Duncan’s indifference to adequately protecting his chin I think he’ll find a home for his punches, leading him to a second round TKO finish.

Pick: Mateusz Rebecki wins by TKO in Rd2.

Elves Brener vs. Esteban Ribovics

Elves Brener will be looking to break free of back-to-back losses when he fights Estaban Ribovics, who came into 2025 on a three-fight winning streak, but was beaten by split-decision last time out.

The 27-year-old Brener spent much of his run on the regional circuit showing of his assured grappling ability, racking up 11 submission finishes during a 13-3 run en-route to the UFC. However, after arriving in the Octagon he won two of his first three fights via strikes, albeit more thanks to being willing to throw caution to the wind and commit to power punches rather than being a slick technician. However, that just didn’t work out for him against a better striker in Joel Alvarez last time out, while he’s also lost to Myktybek Orolbai as well.

Ribovics is a pressure-striker with a high-output style and good power. He’s a tough fighter who has never been finished and has a proven knack for battling through adversity, as was demonstrated in a very hard-fought battle with Daniel Zellhuber at Noche UFC at The Sphere in Las Vegas last year, which he won by split-decision in what proved to be on the best fights of the year. He has since lost out in another split-decision fight against Nasrat Haqparast earlier this year, but it was another entertaining fight that hasn’t set him back too much. Ribovics isn’t as effective on the mat, but he’s not a fish-out-of-water and did secure some submission wins early in his career.

Brener would likely have the edge on the mat here, but I’m not convinced he gets the fight there and on the feet I favor Ribovics to the harder-hitting and more resilient striker as he battles his way to a decision victory.

Pick: Estaban Ribovics wins by decision.

Karol Rosa vs. Nora Cornolle

Karol Rosa has been stuck in a ‘win-one, lose one’ pattern for a few years now and next up for her is Nora Cornolle, who has gone 3-1 in the Octagon.

Rosa’s UFC run began promisingly enough with four wins in a row as she set out her stall to put her opponents on the back foot with a high-output striking gameplan backed up by good conditioning to keep pushing the pace for the full three rounds. However, Rosa has struggled since, putting in some indifferent performances during a 3-4 run, while her lack of a finishing threat has also become apparent, having yet to earn a stopping win in 12 UFC fights. That being said, she is a decent grappler offensively, but her takedown defense isn’t the best and she can be outwrestled.

Cornolle is a relatively late arrival in the sport as she’s 35-years-old, but has only been competing since 2021. She has done her best to make up for lost time though as she’s already 9-2 in the past four years. Cornolle isn’t as active a striker, but she does carry more power and has proven to be much more of a finishing threat, with six wins via strikes and two submission finishes on her record. That being said, there’s a big difference in the level of competition she’s been facing compared to Rosa.

I think this could end up being a close fight, but I do think Rosa’s experience, higher-output and work-rate will enable her to edge out a decision win here.

Pick: Karol Rosa wins by decision.

Neil Magny vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos

Neil Magny had a rough go of it in the second half of 2024, being finished by KO and TKO in the first round in back-to-back appearances. Now he’ll hope to put that behind him when he goes up against a fellow veteran in Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, who is 1-2 in his last three fights and was TKO’d last time out.

Magny will be fighting on the eve of his 38th birthday, and while his recent losses were a red flag, the truth is that he’s been in a bit of a slump for some time as he’s gone 3-5 in recent years, despite consistently having previously had significantly more wins than losses during his long and very active UFC run. Magny has been a workhorse over the years with his good cardio and jack-of-all-trades style. He tends to be at his best adopting a grinding approach, working well in the clinch and mixing in his offensive wrestling, while at 6ft 3″ tall with a large 80″ reach he can also try to keep opponents on the end of his volume-based straight punches and kicks at striking range. He does have weaknesses though as doesn’t have much in the way of power, so aggressive strikers have been able to close him down, which has become a bigger problem now that his durability is in decline, while his submission defense has been a problem at times, leading to six losses.

Zaleski dos Santos is already 38 and also battling after Father Time now, though despite being finished last time out, he’s only other been TKO’d one other time in his career back in 2019. Zaleski is a potent striker capable of unleashing dynamic techniques thanks to his mix of capoeira and muay thai, but he understands the importance of the fundamentals too and has managed to find a good balance between them. He is also capable of getting himself out of trouble on the mat, but he’ll be doing his best to keep this fight upright.

Both fighters here are certainly past their best, but I think Zaleski dos Santos is wearing it better and with Magny’s chin being in decline and the Brazilian having a big power advantage I think he’ll find a 2nd round TKO finish.

Pick: Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos wins by TKO in Rd2.

Danny Silva vs. Kevin Vallejos

A fight between two graduates from the Contender Series here, with Danny Silva having won both his fights since joining the UFC, while Kevin Vallejos is coming off a TKO victory in his debut.

Silva is 10-1 in his career to date and was fighting for LFA prior to getting the Contender Series nod. He’s tall for a featherweight at 5ft 11″ and likes to push a fast tempo with high-volume striking and good conditioning, while he can also mix in takedowns too. At the start of his career Silva won four fights via TKO, but since then he’s been heading to the scorecards on a consistent basis, and though he’s won the vast majority of those fights, his only loss to date was via majority decision prior to arriving in the UFC, while both his wins in the Octagon so far came via split-decision.

Vallejos is already 15-1 in his fighting career despite still only being 23-years-old. He could have arrived in the UFC earlier if he hadn’t come up against Jean Silva on the Contender Series in 2023, who has since gone on to become a major player in the 145lb division. In hindsight Vallejos unanimous decision loss doesn’t look bad at all given that Silva has stopped all his other opponents, including five so far in the UFC. Vallejos won three fights after that and then TKO’d Seung Woo Choi in the first round of his UFC debut back in March. Vallejos is a compact boxer with speed and explosive power, together with good kicks, and has finished 11 of his 15 fights wins via strikes. He’s also able to operate on the mat if required and has a couple of submission wins into the bargain.

Both fighters are likely to collide head on here and given that Silva is more hittable and Vallejos wields the power advantage I think he’ll get the better of the back-and-forth battle to win via a 2nd round TKO finish.

Pick: Kevin Vallejos wins by TKO in Rd2.

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