Thiago Tavares vs. Kurt Pellegrino at UFC 88

Lightweight submission specialists Thiago Tavares (13-2) and Kurt Pellegrino (15-4) will tangle at UFC 88: “Breakthrough” at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Ga. on September 6.

It’s a match up between two 155-pound fighters who up until recently were in the title hunt. However, recent losses for both fighters have temporarily dashed those hopes, making this showdown super important for the winner — it will get him back in the mix much faster.

After bursting on the UFC scene with two straight wins, Tavares created quite a buzz — he was being touted as a possible threat to the champion. However, he has since come back down to Earth, losing two of his last three fights. And the last one — a knockout defeat courtesy of Matt Wiman at UFC 85: “Bedlam” last month — was a huge setback.



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Kurt by MURDER, WAR Pellegrino!

I like Tavares. Pellegrino is good, but Tavares is just that much better. Should make for a great fight.

great fight war tavares

wiman showed weaknesses in tavares' game. hopefully for pellegrino's sake, he could find those same weaknesses and capitalize on them. i have to take pellegrino in this one. in his last fight, he was beating nate diaz pretty good until he got caught in the tightest triangle ever.

This will be a very explosive fight but I see Kurt nullifying Tavares' takedown game and winning by ahard fought split decision.

I hope tavares wins, but pellegrino is good, and very underrated. if tavares gets out of the first round i think he pulls off a sub.

Tavares all the way in this fight.....He is bigger...He is stronger.....I think hes the better striker...but they are both very good at BJJ....I just think that Tavares has more tools to win this fight...