Tatsuro Taira had to wait a little bit longer than expected to get his title shot after flyweight champion Joshua Van suffered a minor injury that delayed their fight until UFC 328.
While that required Taira to endure a longer training camp after he had already spent several weeks in the United States, the 26-year-old top contender from Japan never lost sight of the mission and that’s winning his first major championship. While some title fights are built around a rivalry, Taira has nothing but good things to say about Van, especially after they ran into each other a few times in the past.
“Joshua Van, his strength is definitely his striking and his toughness,” Taira told MMA Fighting. “He’s actually younger than me and just looking back at how he got in that position, everything was so quick. Everything happened like boom and now he’s a champ. I’m just looking forward to this fight and facing him in the octagon and seeing what kind of fight he’s going to give me.”
Van became champion after his fight against Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 323 came to an anticlimactic conclusion when the Brazilian suffered a freak injury just 26 seconds into the opening round. The result still counted as a win for Van, who claimed the flyweight title as a result.
None of that was Van’s fault, but there’s still been some criticism that he didn’t actually win the title as much as he just benefited from an opponent’s injury. But Taira doesn’t hold that against him because he knows Van is a great fighter and how he became champion doesn’t matter now.
“That accident did happen,” Taira said. “I was very looking forward to that fight so I was kind of sad in that sense. So we were in the same fight week and I would meet a lot and I could see even before his fight he was full of energy, he was ready for that moment. Again, he’s always a fun fighter and I was looking forward to that fight. Very unfortunate with the accident but he’s a great fighter. He has great takedown defense, his striking and everything. I wish we could have seen a better fight that day but he’s such a great fighter.”
That said, Taira admits that Pantoja sits at the front of the line for a title shot whenever he’s ready to compete again.
There’s a growing list of contenders and prospects all vying for that same opportunity, but Taira knows that beating Van at UFC 328 this Saturday should immediately lead him to a fight against Pantoja.
“I definitely want to fight all of [the top contenders],” Taira said. “What comes first would be going against Pantoja and beating him. But another dream I would say is to have a big fight in Japan, that’s another thing I’m looking forward to. It’s becoming an exciting division.”
When he was nearing title contention, Taira started studying Pantoja because he had already run roughshod over many of the top fighters at 125 pounds. Pantoja was one of the most dominant champions on the entire UFC roster and Taira expects nothing less when they finally meet.
“Yes, I’m ready [for Pantoja],” Taira said. “Alexandre Pantoja, I met him a bunch of times. I think he’s a great champ. Definitely a legendary champ but looking at flyweight now, we have a lot of guys are getting here at high speed with a lot of momentum. It might be a little bit different now from when he fought all the top ranked guys but it’s a completely new [group of ranked fighters] at flyweight.
“So I’m very excited to fight him someday soon with me as the champ and having that fight. I want to show the momentum and the energy that the new generation has.”
As far as his dream fight as champion, Taira couldn’t imagine anything bigger or better than defending his belt back home in Japan.
The UFC has traveled to Japan plenty of times in the past, but it’s been a few years since the promotion held a card there and Taira knows that could all change if he becomes champion.
Add to that, Taira recognizes there’s one fight at flyweight that would not only serve as a perfect title defense for him as champion, but might be one of the biggest matchups in the history of MMA in Japan.
“I definitely want to fight against Kyoji Horiguchi,” Taira said. “That would be the biggest fight and the biggest card in the biggest arena possible. That would be my dream.”
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