Will fight fans hear another elated “I’m happy, thank you!” from Tatsuro Taira this weekend as the UFC hosts its 100th live event from the UFC Apex, or will Alex Perez get his second victory at the facility within a seven-week span?
Taira has made it his signature to yell “I’m happy, thank you!” into the microphone during his post-victory interviews and he’s batting a thousand thus far in his career. He is a perfect 15-0 as a pro with his five most recent wins coming at the UFC level.
The 24-year-old from Japan is coming off an impressive technical knockout of Carlos Hernandez in December and this Saturday he is taking a huge step up in competition when he meets a one-time flyweight title challenger fresh off a huge knockout win of his own over an established top-10 contender.
Taira has never fought on a UFC main card let alone in a main event, so this weekend will be a showcase of whether the youngster is ready for the bright lights.
Perez snapped a three-fight losing streak when he put away Matheus Nicolau with a clean right hand in late April when he stepped in to headline a card on short notice, and he’s looking to maintain his spot as a top-five contender in the men’s 125-pound division.
Taira is the favourite on the betting odds despite being ranked No. 13 compared to Perez at No. 5 and despite Perez’s huge advantage in level of competition faced.
The 32-year-old has already fought the best the flyweight division has to offer with losses to former titleholder Deiveson Figueiredo in a 2020 championship bout and one in 2022 to current 125-pound champion Alexandre Pantoja.
UNDERCARD OVERVIEW
In addition to a compelling main event scheduled for 25 minutes, Saturday’s card features a handful of the most promising fighters within their respective divisions.
(Editor's note: Ikram Aliskerov has been pulled from Saturday's card and is replacing Khamzat Chimaev in next week's Fight Night main event in Saudi Arabia against former champion Robert Whittaker)
First and foremost there is Ikram Aliskerov who faces Brazil’s Antonio Trócoli in the co-main event. Aliskerov is 15-1 in MMA with his lone loss being a knockout to Khamzat Chimaev five years ago in a 180-pound catchweight bout. Aliskerov has never lost when competing at middleweight and already has two highlight KO wins in his two UFC appearances at UFC 288 vs. Phil Hawes and UFC 294 vs. Warlley Alves.
Aliskerov had been booked into fights with Nassourdine Imavov, Paulo Costa, Andre Muniz and Anthony Hernandez all within the past year. None of them came to fruition for various reasons, but it speaks to what the UFC brass thinks of the 31-year-old Russian and the level of competition he should be facing. Trócoli had a win on Dana White’s Contender Series overturned due to a positive drug test in 2019 and has fought just once since, earning a submission win in Brazil in November 2021.
Assu Almabayev is 2-0 in the UFC and hasn’t lost since 2017. The 30-year-old from Kazakhstan is a name to watch at flyweight and will look to stay hot against Jose Johnson. Almabayev's first loss — and only stoppage loss — was to Tagir Ulanbekov, who was Perez’s original opponent for this event and who is now in Saturday’s featured preliminary bout.
Ulanbekov is set to face Joshua Van in a compelling flyweight scrap that is somewhat like the main event in that Ulanbekov is 32 like Perez, his original opponent, and Van is in his early 20s, like Taira, looking for the biggest win of his career. Van and Taira were originally slated to be opponents at this event.
The flyweight opponent swap occurred after Perez briefly was removed from the card so he could take that short-notice bout with Nicolau. After Perez’s win, the UFC re-added him to the June 15 event and shuffled up the flyweight matchups.
Shayilan Nuerdanbieke and Douglas Silva de Andrade, like Almabayev, are also returning to action after more than a full year away from competition and often find themselves in entertaining tilts. Also, Indonesia’s Jeka Saragih and his immense punching power faces submission specialist Westin Wilson in a stark clash of featherweight styles.
Below is the projected bout order for UFC Fight Nigh: Perez vs. Taira …
MAIN CARD
-- Alex Perez vs. Tatsuro Taira
-- Ikram Aliskerov vs. Antonio Trócoli
-- Timothy Cuamba vs. Lucas Almeida
-- Douglas Silva de Andrade vs. Miles Johns
-- Assu Almabayev vs. Jose Johnson
-- Brady Hiestand vs. Garrett Armfield
PRELIMINARY CARD
-- Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Joshua Van
-- Jimmy Flick vs. Nate Maness
-- Josh Quinlan vs. Adam Fugitt
-- Carli Judice vs. Gabriella Fernandes
-- Jeka Saragih vs. Westin Wilson
-- Josefine Lindgren Knutsson vs. Julia Polastri
-- Melquizael Costa vs. Shayilan Nuerdanbieke
