The UFC has high hopes for Karl Williams, but he hasn't done much to show he can be the face of a division. With Justin Tafa possessing knockout power, our UFC picks expect Williams to go night night in the octagon.
Simply put, if Williams doesn't have another shade of his game, he's going to be in huge trouble. Tafa isn't the kind of fighter to constantly shoot in on or to employ a jab-and-grab strategy. With Williams having so much success in his takedown game since joining the UFC — and content to drag his fights to the distance — it's difficult to imagine Tafa gets victimized by something that hasn't worked against him.
It's something other than what we've seen Williams do by choice, and he looked awkward while sticking to a primarily striking offense against Sherman. Tafa shouldn't allow Williams to set the pace, so he's going to push forward right away and swing for the fences until he hits something. Justin traded spots with brother Junior and hopes to win his fourth in a row. Tafa needed less than two minutes to stop his opponents and he put Austen Lane down in a single round back at UFC 293 last September. A pure striker in every sense of the word, Tafa lands 5.13 significant strikes per minute against 5.93 absorbed and has never been taken down in his eight fights in the UFC.The athletic Williams joined the UFC in 2022 and began his MMA career in 2001.