Preview: UFC Vegas 108 ‘Taira vs. Park’

Women’s Bantamweights

Karol Rosa (18-7, 7-4 UFC) vs. Nora Cornolle (9-2, 3-1 UFC)

Odds: Rosa (-180); Cornolle (+150)

Rosa and Cornolle meet here in the only UFC Vegas 108 matchup to feature two ranked fighters, and while both women are solid competitors, that is more of a comment on the current state of women’s bantamweight. Rosa looked like a future title contender upon landing in the UFC six years ago and winning four straight fights, but since then she has settled into alternating wins and losses over her last eight.

Rosa has time to pull out of this rut—30 is not old at 135—but she seems to have stagnated. She has always been big and powerful for the division, and compensated for her lack of standout athleticism with a come-forward, grinding approach that made the best of her particular gifts. Put simply, Rosa generally thrives when she is the bully and struggles when she is not. Of the four women to defeat Rosa in the UFC, Ailin Perez, Norma Dumont and Sara McMann pushed her around—McMann running a takedown clinic on Rosa at age 41 was an especially bad look. In the lone exception, Irene Aldana edged Rosa out in a wild scrap mostly characterized by both women’s decision to ignore defense, with Rosa destroying Aldana’s legs while Aldana landed about a million flush punches to the face.

The paths to victory against Rosa are well established, but it remains to be seen whether Cornolle can follow any of them. The French kickboxer came to MMA late—at the time of her professional debut, Rosa was already in the UFC despite being five years younger—and signed to the UFC seemingly as much for her nationality as her talent. “Wonder” has been a pleasant surprise, however, showing well-rounded skills belying her late bloomer status.

Cornolle is also a big bantamweight, nimbler on the feet than she looks at first glance. A striker by background, she is at her best in medium-paced kickboxing matches, where she can hang out at the outer edge of boxing range and look for counters. She does well to punish fighters who crowd her, sending mean knees up the middle. She has also proven more than capable of handling herself on the ground, as she did in choking out Hailey Cowan in her last outing in April.

Rosa is the moderate favorite here for understandable reasons. She is substantially younger yet more experienced, especially against top-level opposition. Still, given her struggle to make adjustments—either during fights or between them—it is difficult to pick her to win with any confidence. Rosa’s usual approach of marching forward, punching her way inside and possibly into the clinch figure to be rough sledding against Cornolle, and there is no guarantee that the matchup will favor her if things go to the ground. The pick is Cornolle by decision.



Jump To »
Taira vs. Park
Rebecki vs. Duncan
Brener vs. Ribovics
Rosa vs. Cornolle
Magny vs. Zaleski dos Santos
Vallejos vs. Silva
The Prelims