Tatsuro Taira is going to try to give Japan its first-ever UFC champion. The Japanese fighter looks to become the flyweight king this Saturday at UFC 328 in Newark. He challenges champion Joshua Van for the belt.
The 26-year-old fighter from Naha, Okinawa, Japan, is one of the highly touted talents in the UFC. Taira signed with the UFC in 2022 as an undefeated fighter with a 10-0 record. Taira was the champion of the well-respected Shooto Japan organization in his home country. From the very first fight in the UFC against Carlos Candelario, Taira showed massive potential in the Octagon.
Fast Rise Of Tatsuro Taira
That was only just the start for the young fighter from Japan. Taira won his next four fights with two submission finishes and his first (T)KO finish in the UFC. This was enough reason for the UFC to put Taira against crafty veteran Alex Perez in the main event of UFC Vegas 93. Taira struggled early on with the striking of Perez, but forced an injury on Perez’s leg in the second round and won the fight via (T)KO.
It led to an official title eliminator four months later against former title challenger Brandon Royval. In one of the best fights of 2024, Taira came up short via split decision after five rounds. It was the first professional loss of the young fighter’s career. Ten months after the loss, Taira rebounded spectacularly by finishing HyunSung Park via a Face Crank submission in the second round.
The UFC still saw lots of potential in the Japanese talent and matched him up against former two-time UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno. A massive step-up in competition. After a difficult first round with lots of control time for Moreno, Taira was able to dominate the Mexican fan favorite and finish him with strikes. The win of Moreno secured the title shot against champion Joshua Van for Taira. Taira goes into the fight as a favorite.
Matchpoint For Japan
Taira will become the eighth Japanese fighter to fight for the UFC championship. In the history of the UFC, seven other Japanese fighters fought for the undisputed UFC title. None of them was successful. Kai Asakura (flyweight), Kyoji Horiguchi (flyweight), Caol Uno (lightweight), Hayato Sakurai (welterweight), Kenichi Yamamoto (welterweight), Yushin Okami (middleweight) and Yuki Kondo (light-heavyweight) all tried to bring home gold for “The Land of the Rising Sun”.
Only Kazushi Sakuraba won the UFC heavyweight tournament in 1997. The Japanese legend with over 45 professional fights in MMA is the only fighter from Japan in UFC history to win a tournament in the organization. Unfortunately for Sakuraba, the tournament winners are not officially documented as champions. Which means that Japan is still in search of its first real UFC champion since the promotion started in 1993.
Taira faces in Van a fighter who is one year younger than he is. Van won the title in December last year by defeating reigning champion Alexandre Pantoja. Pantoja got injured early in the fight. The expectation originally was that Van would rematch Pantoja. When the UFC was looking for the first title defense for Van, the Brazilian was still in recovery. The UFC had many options, but chose the Japanese fighter, Taira. Van and Taira were both born after 2000. This is the first title fight in the UFC between fighters born after the year 2000. Will Japan finally get its first UFC champion? We will know after Saturday.
Tatsuro Taira Can Become the First Japanese UFC Champion