This past Saturday at UFC 323 in the featured bout on the main card, we saw a potential title eliminator in the flyweight division. Former flyweight champion Brandon Moreno (23-9-2) was looking for his third straight win as he took on Tatsuro Taira (18-1).
Like Joshua Van who ended up becoming champion due to injury in the co-main event, Taira represents this new and exciting wave of flyweight contenders. Taira is just 25-years-old and he’s very exciting for the UFC because he’s a Japanese star who they could take back to Japan if he rises to the top and becomes a title challenger.
That said, he had a monster task in front of him with Brandon Moreno. Taira showed off his speed early in the fight and went for a takedown where he ended up in a triangle choke. The choke never got close to finishing the fight, but Moreno held the triangle position for the entire round and won that round because of it.
In the second round, Taira was able to get Moreno down and he got to his back. You could tell just how strong he was in that position. He flattened out Moreno and landed some big shots. The referee stopped the fight which I thought was a bit early, but nevertheless, Taira earned the biggest win of his career at UFC 323.
What’s next after UFC 323?
Back in June after defeating Brandon Royval, Joshua Van was brought to the octagon to watch Alexandre Pantoja defend his flyweight title. When Pantoja won, they brought Van in for a face-off and that was the next title fight. After his win on Saturday, the UFC brought Taira out to the cage to watch the co-main event.
You could tell that he would likely face-off with the winner of the fight unless something crazy happened. Well, something crazy happened as Pantoja severely injured his arm just 23 seconds into the fight and Van won the flyweight title due to the injury.
Taira was shocked and you could tell he was devastated by what he was watching. Devastated for his fellow competitor in Pantoja but also devastated that he might lose his championship opportunity. Alexandre Pantoja absolutely deserves an immediate rematch considering his incredible reign over the UFC’s flyweight division.
That said, Joshua Van’s next challenger is going to come back to timing. Taira and Van took no damage on Saturday so the UFC could turn them around very quickly to book a title fight. Personally, I think that’s what’s going to happen. I think that they will fight in the spring with the winner facing Pantoja in late summer / early fall.
The only way Taira isn’t next is if Pantoja can somehow return in the spring. If that’s the case, I think you’d see Taira as the backup fighter and then he’d fight the winner. That said, there is one mega Japanese fight that the UFC could make if Pantoja does get the next title fight.
You could look at a situation where the promotion books Taira against Japanese legend Kyoji Horiguchi to headline an event in Japan later this year. That would be a mega fight for those fans and if Taira doesn’t get the next title fight, it doesn’t get much better than that.
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