The bout, pitting New Zealand-Australian mixed martial artist Junior Tafa against American heavyweight Karl Williams, is one of the recent additions to UFC Fight Night: Ribas vs Namajunas. The fight card aka “UFC Vegas 89” airs live from UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday, March 23.
Junior Tafa (5-1) is coming off the win by knockout in the first round against Parker Porter last August in Singapore. In his UFC debut last April, the 27-year-old native of Avondale, New Zealand dropped a unanimous decision against Mohammed Usman. Prior to that, Brisbane, Australia-based mixed martial artist and former kickboxer won four MMA fights inside the distance.
Karl Williams (9-1) is riding a six-fight winning streak. The 34-year-old Dana White’s Contender Series alumni was in action last May at UFC Charlotte, when he defeated Chase Sherman by unanimous decision. The St. Thomas, Virgin Islands native made his UFC debut last March, scoring a UD against Lukasz Brzeski.
As reported by MMA Junkie, the promotion also announced a middleweight bout between Edmen Shahbazyan (12-4) of Glendale, California and Dusko Todorovic (12-4) of Serbia. The change on the card sees England’s Mick Parkin (8-0) replacing Spanish Chris Barnett (23-8) in the heavyweight bout against Mohammed Usman (10-2) of Nigeria.
In the main event, former UFC women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas (11-6) of Milwaukee, Wisconsin faces Amanda Ribas (13-4) of Brazil at flyweight. In the co-main event, Billy Quarantillo (18-5) of Ransomville, New York takes on Gabriel Miranda (17-6) of Brazil at featherweight.
With the additions, the current UFC Vegas 89 lineup looks as the following:
- Amanda Ribas vs. Rose Namajunas, women’s flyweight
- Billy Quarantillo vs. Gabriel Miranda, featherweight
- Mohammed Usman vs. Mick Parkin, heavyweight
- Kurt Holobaugh vs. Trey Ogden, lightweight
- Ricardo Ramos vs. Julian Erosa, featherweight
- Davey Grant vs. Cody Gibson, bantamweight
- Steven Nguyen vs. Jarno Errens, featherweight
- Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Dusko Todorovic, middleweight
- Luis Pajuelo vs. Fernando Padilla, featherweight
- Karl Williams vs. Junior Tafa, heavyweight
- Montserrat Rendon vs. Darya Zheleznyakova, women’s bantamweight
- Stephanie Luciano vs. Shauna Bannon, women’s strawweight