A heavyweight fight between Justin Tafa and Carlos Felipe has been announced for January 16. The news of the matchup between the two prospects was first reported by Combate.
UFC acerta luta entre Carlos Boi e Justin Tafa para o dia 16 de janeiro https://t.co/pXvpFrL4zJ pic.twitter.com/VgUlwfLxMS
— Combate (@combate) October 13, 2020
Justin Tafa vs Carlos Felipe Reported for January
Each of these young fighters enter this fight 1-1 in their UFC careers. We haven’t seen Justin Tafa since he was victorious over Juan Adams back at UFC 247 in February. Prior to that, Tafa was defeated by Yorgan de Castro in his UFC debut at UFC 243 last October. The Australian is new to the sport, holding a career record of 4-1. At 26, he’s still quite young, especially for the heavyweight division. A win over a promising prospect in Carlos Felipe would get Tafa’s young career trending in the right direction.
Carlos Felipe, just 25 years old, enters this fight with a 9-1 professional MMA record. Like Tafa, he is 1-1 in his UFC career. Felipe lost his UFC debut to Sergey Spivak in July. He bounced back with a unanimous decision victory over de Castro earlier this month. If this fight with Tafa goes on as planned, it will be Felipe’s third fight in six months since making his UFC debut. His activity will only do him favors if wins coming along with it. He’s still searching for his first career finish in the UFC. Of his nine careers wins, six have come via knockout.
There’s a good chance that one of the big boys will be going to sleep in this one. All five of Tafa’s career fights have ended in a finish, each of his four wins and his sole loss. Felipe brings his six finishes into this fight. If the fight does go all three rounds, Felipe will likely have the edge. He has proven he can win decisions and go the distance, while Tafa has only seen the second round twice in his career.
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