Japan’s New Star
Tatsuro Taira carries the weight of a nation on his shoulders this weekend when he steps into the Octagon at the UFC Apex. Japan’s latest MMA prodigy competes in his second consecutive main event as he takes on former title challenger Brandon Royval in a No. 1 contender fight at 125 lbs.
The unbeaten Taira (16-0, 6-0 UFC) seems to be benefitting from the UFC’s recent policy of leapfrogging their exciting prospects into the upper echelons of the rankings at the first available opportunity, following his victory over another former title challenger, Alex Perez, in his previous outing in June. Prior to that fight, Taira sat at No. 13 in the flyweight rankings, but just four months later finds himself paired off against the division’s No. 1 contender Royval. Should the 24-year-old Okinawan emerge victorious, the UFC may finally have a reason to stage another event in Japan.
The world’s leading promotion hasn’t visited the land of the rising sun since 2017 but given the urgency with which they’ve looked to move Taira towards the flyweight title picture, it’s clear there seems to be something brewing. A need for fresh blood at the top end of the division in the aftermath of the Brandon Moreno/Deiveson Figueiredo tetralogy, combined with the interesting prospect of having a marketable fighter to build an event around in the land that brought us Kazushi Sakuraba, Takanori Gomi and Genki Sudo has seen Tatsuro Taira handed a golden opportunity this Saturday night.
A Shot At Glory
This type of matchmaking has been becoming more and more common of late. Fighters at the top of the division who have perhaps fallen at the final hurdle in a championship fight have been risking everything by accepting high stakes fights against surging prospects further down the rankings. Dustin Poirier took that gamble by facing Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 299 and although he endured a difficult opening round against the Frenchman, he picked up a second-round knockout victory and earned a third crack at the lightweight belt. Cory Sandhagen took a similar risk in August when he faced Umar Nurmagomedov (who sat nine places behind him in the bantamweight rankings). The gamble didn’t pay off for “Sandman” unfortunately, and Nurmagomedov now looks set to face Merab Dvalishvili for the 135-lb. title.
Tatsuro Taira will be hoping he can follow in Nurmagomedov’s footsteps and earn a crack at Alexandre Pantoja, but in order to do that he’ll have to overcome the biggest challenge of his career to date. Brandon Royval gave a very good account of himself when he lost to Pantoja in December, and he bounced back in impressive fashion by picking up a win over former champion Brandon Moreno earlier this year. While Taira has been making a name for himself as an exceptional grappler and submission artist during his short tenure inside the Octagon so far, “Raw Dawg” has already proven he can hang with the best the division has to offer once the fight hits the mat and has racked up submission wins over the likes of Matt Schnell, Tim Elliott and Kai Kara-France.
Natural Born Killer
Taira has showcased some exceptional grappling chops during his six appearances inside the Octagon so far, not just with his submission wins over CJ Vergara and Jesus Aguilar, but his overall ability to hit control where the fight takes place. He can seemingly find his way to an opponent’s back in an instant and possesses a killer instinct which makes him a dangerous prospect when the fight hits the canvas. With an ever-improving stand up game and a 70-inch reach (which is a massive advantage over most flyweights) Taira’s ceiling looks to be sky high.
Whether he is ready to take the next step in his development and fulfil some of that undoubted potential is still up for debate. We should have a clear answer to that question once Saturday’s main event is in the books.
