Flyweight phenom Taira can prove he's ready for upper echelon at flyweight

Tatsuro Taira proved during his June win over Alex Perez that the undefeated start to his UFC career has not been a fluke.

Although his victory over the one-time flyweight title challenger was ultimately due to a knee injury, it was an injury caused by Taira as he locked up his opponent with a standing body triangle before one of Perez’s knees blew out.

Taira proved that night at the UFC Apex that he could hang with a proven top-10 talent in the 125-pound weight class at just 24 years of age, regardless of the relatively flukey finish. The upstart fighter from Japan returns to the UFC’s home base in Las Vegas this weekend for another main event assignment against a past title contender.

Brandon Royval recently described Taira as “a future champion,” and has felt some of the skills Taira can bring to the cage since the pair share the same management and have trained together on occasion in the past.

Royval is 6-3 in the UFC, with his losses coming exclusively to elite competition. One was to former champion Brandon Moreno in 2020, a loss he avenged in February in a five-round Fight Night main event on the road in Mexico City. His other two losses in the UFC were to current champion Alexandre Pantoja: he was submitted by Pantoja in a non-title bout three years ago, then lost a five-round unanimous decision in their title fight at UFC 296 late last year.

Taira has made it a tradition to yell, “I’m happy, thank you!” into the microphone during his post-victory interviews. If the former Shooto champion improves to a perfect 17-0 in MMA and 7-0 at the UFC level, fight fans will get to hear his victory slogan one more time as he moves closer to a title shot. He is currently the No. 5-ranked contender at flyweight.

Pantoja is a combined 5-0 against fighters currently ranked in the top five. The champ has two wins over Royval, the No. 1-ranked contender at 125 pounds entering Saturday’s card. He has two wins over Moreno, the No. 2 contender who’s set to face No. 3 Amir Albazi three weeks from now in the UFC Edmonton main event. Pantoja also holds a previous win over No. 4-ranked Kai Kara-France during their time on The Ultimate Fighter back in 2016.

Taira, Albazi and new UFC signee Kai Asakura are the top flyweights at the moment who have yet to compete for a UFC title.

UNDERCARD OVERVIEW

Tavares vs. Jun-yong, take two: Brad Tavares and Park Jun-yong were originally slated to meet in a co-main bout on the July 20 Fight Night card at the Apex, however, Park was not medically cleared to compete after successfully making weight and the bout was cancelled the day before the event.

Tavares will set a record by competing in the 25th middleweight bout of his UFC career, which will see him pass Michael Bisping for most total Octagon appearances in the weight class. Tavares also has the chance to tie Bisping for most wins in the division and can passed him in total cage time, if his bout with Park ends up going past the 2:40 mark of Round 2. Park, 33, had a four-fight winning streak snapped in December, when he dropped a split decision to Andre Muniz.

Barnett off card due to Hurricane Milton: Popular heavyweight Chris Barnett, who fights out of Tampa, Fla., was replaced by UFC newcomer Sean Sharaf due to travel issues.

“Due to issues related to Hurricane Milton, Chris Barnett has been removed from his heavyweight bout with Junior Tafa,” a UFC statement read.

Sharaf, 31, is 4-0, with all his wins coming in the first round, however, his competition was mostly unproven. Tafa, 28, is 1-3 in the UFC coming off a submission loss to Valter Walker in August. 

MAIN CARD

-- Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira

-- Brad Tavares vs. Park Jun-yong

-- Grant Dawson vs. Rafa García

-- Julia Polastri vs. Cory McKenna

-- Daniel Rodriguez vs. Alex Morono

-- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Josh Fremd

PRELIMINARY CARD

-- Chidi Njokuani vs. Jared Gooden

-- C.J. Vergara vs. Ramazan Temirov

-- Jonathan Pearce vs. Pat Sabatini

-- Themba Gorimbo vs. Niko Price

-- Junior Tafa vs. Sean Sharaf

-- Daniel Argueta vs. Cody Haddon

-- Clayton Carpenter vs. Lucas Rocha