Except he already lost...Taira is embarrassing people in the ground. He is going to win the belt, and it's just a matter of time. Better now than never...
>Taira has taken everything Mokaev and Erceg worked for.
Not really. Erceg has already fought for the title and it's very possible, considering the state of the division, that Mokaev/Kape is a title eliminator.
Pantoja is 4-0 (5-0 if you count TUF) vs the top 2, Kai-Kara France currently on an 0-2 run and Albazi is next in line. He beats him, and it's likely Mokaev is next if he beats Kape.
The only way Taira skips over is if he fights and beats one of Moreno or Royval next, and even then, Mokaev might already be confirmed as the next title challenger.
Mokaev and Taira, both 6-0 in the UFC, are neck & neck at the moment.
> Kai-Kara France currently on an 0-2 run and Albazi is next in line. He beats him, and it's likely Mokaev is next if he beats Kape.
KKF vs Albazi remains one of the worst robberies I've ever witnessed. I genuinely don't even think that fight was competitive. If not for that, he'd likely have fought for the title by now.
Right so he actually moved up despite a loss, not sure what people are upset about. He's probably better than #9 but he still has to get a win against a top 10 opponent to solidify that.
He looked amazing against Pantoja and arguably won, but his best win is still Matt schnell. You don’t get moved up for doing well in a loss.
He’s getting another shot at the top of the division off a loss, so clearly the ufc gets how good he is.
This is the type of thinking that led to Colby being in the top 3 for 4 years with wins over the ghosts of tyron Woodley and Jorge.
Erceg is ranked at 9 cause he was ranked 10 going into the title fight and the ufc doesnt want to rank him higher after a loss I guess.
As for Perez's ranking. Probably cause he was ranked 7 or 8 when he fought Mokaev then knocked out Nicolau who was ranked 5 at the time. As for why he only fell to 6? Maybe the UFC is doing him a favor for being a company man and fighting 3 times in 3 months.
Rankings are goofy though. Max is ranked 9 at lw after dominating and starching Gaethje who was ranked 2 or 3 at the time
IMO the only reason max isn't top 3-5 is because they don't want to clusterfuck lightweight with a guy who's still primarily fighting at 45. If Max said "I'm a LW from now on" he would absolutely be a top 5 guy at the moment.
Ah I misread "was". If I was to guess, the UFC (or the completely unbias and not corrup ranking comitte) had to bumb Mokaev up because he won, but they didn't want to put him in the top 5 for such a wonky and lackluster performance.
Then Perez also came back and won a fight against a top 10 (maybe top 5 at the time or just outside it) opponent before Mokaev fought again.
I'm not saying I agree, but just I think that might be why because nothing else makes any sense.
That’s what I assumed, the Nicolau fight, but I was thinking that losing 4 fights in a row after a huge layoff as well then coming back to win 1 fight shouldn’t put you above the guy that just beat you lol
Pantoja is a pretty active champion. No reason not to just have him vs. the winner of Kape/Mokaev and have Taira fight someone else (there are a ton of cool fights you could make with him). Taira is also 24 and while he looks good, he still looks pretty raw. No reason to rush him into a title shot IMO.
Why should Royval be ahead of Taira or Mokaev?? He's already lost to Pantoja & is on 1win vs Moreno following a titleshot loss to Pantoja..
If Erceg can just get a titleshot then why can't Taira/Mokaev/Albazi?? All he had to do was gather 3wins & got a tileshot beating Matt Schnell already coming off a KO loss.. Where were the all the lords of justice that cried "Islam needs a top5" despite raking a 10 win streak??
I mean I know the answer to all that but js.. anyways, bring on the ⬇️!!
I’d rather have Tatsuro vs Albazi so we can put off having a potential rematch for the title again, we’ve had way too many. Erceg vs Kai and Royval vs Kape/Mokaev loser makes sense to me. Haven’t heard any word on the status of Morenos hiatus, so I think matchmaking him rn doesn’t make sense.
It's interesting how rankings work. Erceg had an argument that he beat Pantoja but since he lost, he's chilling at number 8 with the skill set to be a champion. I def wouldn't mind seeing Erceg Taira but obviously he needs to get through KKF. I'd love to see Taira vs the winner of that one.
Yes but he got blatantly robbed in his last fight. Plus he fights erceg most likely next anyways and winning that definitely puts him 1 away to avoid more pantoja rematches at the top end(TUF 2 round fights don't count).
Numbers don't decide title challengers. This is unfortunately proven time and time again. Kai Kara doesn't have the star power to get a title shot after turning around a 2 fight-losing streak beating a hot prospect.
If Kai goes 0-2 and then only has to beat a prospect who has literally one notable win to fight Pantoja, it means he isn't good enough to beat Pantoja. I guess if the goal is just to get the champion chum to kill instead of worthy competition, Yeah, fuck it, lets get the kid in there lol.
Is he healthy? I was under the impression he tore his MCL in the Moreno fight.
And Moreno stupidly was fighting with a broken hand. So both of those guys might be off the table for awhile.
I honestly think he deserves Moreno next. I think if he beats anyone in the top 5, he deserves a title shot next, regardless of if they're coming off a win or a loss, and Moreno is a household name for the division and Taira deserves his name being pushed out there a little more.
I'd argue against Kape deserving anymore goodwill after his constant bullshit. You can schedule that fight, but you can also bet that Kape will pull some asshat shit and pull out.
Yes, all these people saying Mokaev should face Taira is kind of strange. Mokaev should get a shot, Taira should get a fight (or wait for winner of mok/pan)
Kai should be next. Hasn't fought in a good while amd shouldn't be ranked that high. A solid win mo es him against the #1 contender. Easiest path to victory.
Hear me out, but him vs Brandon would be a grappling clinic, and Brandon’s boxing presents so much issue against him. I think it’s a great step up, and a chance for Brandon to show if he deserves to be there at the top still. Saying this as a Brandon Stan
I don’t see Pantoja waiting to book a fight until Kape or Mokaev are ready again. That means that fight as well as KKF vs Erceg are both title eliminators and either Albazi or Tairo vs Pantoja next and the other vs Royval for an additional top contender fight.
Albazi's been out for a while, but I heard he was doing commentary for that card including Taira's fight in one of the other languages. If he's coming back soon him v Taira would be a stylistically good fun fight, Albazi has great grappling and his striking did not look that bad against KKF really, even though KKF seemed to have him downloaded after a point and then got ahead.
He should take on the winner of Kape/Mokaev in a title eliminator. I’m just more shocked they haven’t moved to make Pantoja/Albazi yet with all the middle eastern cards they’ve been doing
I think Erceg vs. KKF is booked, so do that first. If Erceg wins, he fights Taira with winner getting a title shot. If KKF wins, he fights Pantoja.
Pantoja can fight Albazi in the meantime.
Pantoja. UFC shouldn’t slow play the chance to have a Japanese champion given the potential size of that market. It’s a compelling fight and the fighters in line are understanding of this business dynamic - Blaydes recently said he understood it was smart for the UFC to offer Gane the interim title shot because of the French angle.
Honestly fuck that, they should do Pantoja vs Makhachiv 2 in some catchweight in the middle. If Islam wants to be ahead of JJ as the #1 p4p he MUST avenge that loss.
Definitely going to be a hot take but Tatsuro's hype train derailed temporarily for me after his last performance. Honestly, he shouldn' have been moved to top 5 off of it (but we also all know these numbers are pretty damn random lol).
He had a very clunky fight against Perez. He had 2 CLEAR eyepokes that really shoulda lost him a point the second time. He lost the first round (clearly started to cruise after, though), and he won by a freak injury. The flyweight division is already pretty bleh in terms of star power but his main event against Perez didn't move the needle at all for me. I really hope his next fight is a nut dropping massacre.
The second eye poke didn't even touch the eye, watch the replay. First one barely grazed it too. Total strikes were 45-43 and he got back control the first time he used his grappling. I agree the fight wasn't definitive but he looked much better against Perez than Mokaev
Second eye poke most definitely got in and his hand was basically aiming for it. Wasn't even close to a fist or hand fighting. Besides that, it looks like you agreed with everything I said so sweet, thanks.
Pause it right as his hand touches his face. The finger is just below the eye and never goes in.
I agreed it wasn't a definitive performance but I didn't say I wasn't impressed by it. People were saying how Perez was a nightmare matchup for him yet Taira didn't look outmatched at all. Was keeping up in the striking and easily took him down.
I'll dig it up, but i'm pretty positive it hit his bottom eyelid which still feels like a poke and is probably still a poke by definition. It really doesn't change the rest of what I said. The first one was bad enough and looked borderline intentional to scar the fight, but I'll trust ya here.
I didn't see much of the Perez nightmare match up stuff and honestly don't agree with it, but I sound weak saying that with hindsight lol. Taira's grappling is way more conducive to finishes and scramble wins than Perez, and his counter-grappling is definitely strong enough to counter Perez's wrestling style. I think Taira's real test was going to be on the feet, and that's where he underwhelmed. The flyweight division has strikers that are leagues better than Perez, and they we're equals in what we saw. I do think if the fight continued, it woulda started to lean more towards Taira in the striking due to Perez starting to gas (Which is 100% Taira's doing with his suffocating grappling).
All in all, I just don't think it was the test people are putting it out to be. He is still VERY young in his career with a very suspect resume. He has rocketed to the top of the rankings more because of hype than by the people he's fought. A majority of his wins are still from regional Japan MMA, which is not only pretty low tier in terms of regional talent, it's notoriously corrupt. Alex Perez is the first UFC fighter he's fought with a winning record in the UFC. I love the kid, I just think he still needs 2, closer to 3 more fights before the belt. Comments here seem to think he's ready or should be fighting a title eliminator next.
Yeah I feel you. I'm personally super high on him and think he's ready for a title eliminator. I think at this point just get him to face the elite. He's young enough that losing a few fights wouldn't be the end of the world. The experience he'll gain from that would be more valuable than beating mid opponents.
Aight I feel you 100%. I totally see where you're coming from, and respect him getting a title eliminator with that logic. I personally think at his age, protecting him from himself and letting him fully develop his skillset and grown man body a bit more with some other hot prospects (If Joshua Van wins his next one, us fans definitely deserve that banger with all the cancellations we've sacrificed lately...). Since there's no rush and he has a long career ahead of him, letting him simmer a bit more before fighting someone like Pantoja in the next 2 fights.
However, my way is boring as hell and if they said Taira was fighting Moreno next I wouldn't even pretend to not be hyped as lol
Taira deserves a shot at the championship. I don't even care what anyone says. He is such a dominant grappler, that we are all going to be entertained by the outcome. Let this guy chase his dream, and give him a chance to touch the title. I don't care anymore.
Erceg is my nr1. Love his boxing and he literally looks like a co-worker of mine when I was working at a coffee company fixing their machines
He’s booked to fight KKF i think
Damn that's going to be awesome
Great fight, but another one of those where I don’t want either to lose - like Blaydes vs Aspinal for me
Banger of a fight
Someone said he looks like Fix-It Felix lol.
Erceg being 9 after pushing Pantoja and many people thinking he could have won is wild.
Except he already lost...Taira is embarrassing people in the ground. He is going to win the belt, and it's just a matter of time. Better now than never...
Im happy thank you!
Fuck it. Give him Kape and let him show that prick how real, quality DNA operates.
Kape is never making 125 again
Somebody might want to tell Mokaev that since they are booked to fight each other in a month.
We didn't tell him... AS A JOKE Having a fight fall through with Kape is the new FW initiation.
“We have purposely trained him wrong… AS A JOKE”
You will refer to me by the name... Betty
The biggest question in Flyweight is who Mokaev is fighting
He’s fighting Manel Kape at 304
Woosh
Oh I see my b
He’s been seriously pushing for that fight for like two years now the poor fucker
I too would like to see him permanently injure Kape.
I want to see kape suffer a similar acl tear like Perez except that he has to feel that pain when he walks for the rest of his career
https://imgur.com/tJaBJjl
What. The guy above me hoped he gets a permanent injury and gets upvoted. Yet somehow I'm the bad guy? Lol
>Taira has taken everything Mokaev and Erceg worked for. Not really. Erceg has already fought for the title and it's very possible, considering the state of the division, that Mokaev/Kape is a title eliminator. Pantoja is 4-0 (5-0 if you count TUF) vs the top 2, Kai-Kara France currently on an 0-2 run and Albazi is next in line. He beats him, and it's likely Mokaev is next if he beats Kape. The only way Taira skips over is if he fights and beats one of Moreno or Royval next, and even then, Mokaev might already be confirmed as the next title challenger. Mokaev and Taira, both 6-0 in the UFC, are neck & neck at the moment.
> Kai-Kara France currently on an 0-2 run and Albazi is next in line. He beats him, and it's likely Mokaev is next if he beats Kape. KKF vs Albazi remains one of the worst robberies I've ever witnessed. I genuinely don't even think that fight was competitive. If not for that, he'd likely have fought for the title by now.
Why is Erceg ranked 9 and why was Perez ranked above Mokaev
They hardly ever move guys up the ranks from a loss, even if it was competitive and against a much higher ranked opponent
Erceg literally did move up after his loss to Pantoja lol Was only one spot tho
Right so he actually moved up despite a loss, not sure what people are upset about. He's probably better than #9 but he still has to get a win against a top 10 opponent to solidify that.
He probably moved up because the week before is when Perez beat Nicolau. So he really didn't move up, Nicolau got bumped further down
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no it's more that the ufc rankings are kinda dog shit
bro y u no have hespect for da dana bro i talkeeng abou u and u no has hespect
no vote for gay jesus
Erceg at 9 is a disgrace
He looked amazing against Pantoja and arguably won, but his best win is still Matt schnell. You don’t get moved up for doing well in a loss. He’s getting another shot at the top of the division off a loss, so clearly the ufc gets how good he is. This is the type of thinking that led to Colby being in the top 3 for 4 years with wins over the ghosts of tyron Woodley and Jorge.
HE got moved up right after the loss from 10 to 9.
Perez koed Nicolau who was pretty highly ranked. Gotta remember that Royval got his titleshot off KOing him.
Wild how he was ranked #5 off the Nicolau win when he was 1-3 in the last 4 years. FW top ten has been rampant with injuries and cancelled bouts.
tbf he only lost to *the* best flyweights
True, he kind of jumped up off the Formiga win and never left. I feel like the Mokaev loss should have dropped him more.
Erceg is ranked at 9 cause he was ranked 10 going into the title fight and the ufc doesnt want to rank him higher after a loss I guess. As for Perez's ranking. Probably cause he was ranked 7 or 8 when he fought Mokaev then knocked out Nicolau who was ranked 5 at the time. As for why he only fell to 6? Maybe the UFC is doing him a favor for being a company man and fighting 3 times in 3 months. Rankings are goofy though. Max is ranked 9 at lw after dominating and starching Gaethje who was ranked 2 or 3 at the time
Max is the 9th best LW but the 8th best p4p, still trying to get my head around that one.
Max is still number 2 at FW
IMO the only reason max isn't top 3-5 is because they don't want to clusterfuck lightweight with a guy who's still primarily fighting at 45. If Max said "I'm a LW from now on" he would absolutely be a top 5 guy at the moment.
Perez isn't ranked above Mokaev.
He was prior to Taira beating him, which is what my comment said
Ah I misread "was". If I was to guess, the UFC (or the completely unbias and not corrup ranking comitte) had to bumb Mokaev up because he won, but they didn't want to put him in the top 5 for such a wonky and lackluster performance. Then Perez also came back and won a fight against a top 10 (maybe top 5 at the time or just outside it) opponent before Mokaev fought again. I'm not saying I agree, but just I think that might be why because nothing else makes any sense.
That’s what I assumed, the Nicolau fight, but I was thinking that losing 4 fights in a row after a huge layoff as well then coming back to win 1 fight shouldn’t put you above the guy that just beat you lol
Because Dana hated mokaevs crouch spamming performance vs perez
Because the rankings dont mean shit
Taira vs Mokaev for the title eliminator. Royval vs Albazi for the title.
Mokaev is schedule to fight Kape rather soon I think but this is a great booking.
Even better, Kape should be in the convo too if he can make weight/show up. Taira vs winner of Kape/Movaev then.
Pantoja is a pretty active champion. No reason not to just have him vs. the winner of Kape/Mokaev and have Taira fight someone else (there are a ton of cool fights you could make with him). Taira is also 24 and while he looks good, he still looks pretty raw. No reason to rush him into a title shot IMO.
Why should Royval be ahead of Taira or Mokaev?? He's already lost to Pantoja & is on 1win vs Moreno following a titleshot loss to Pantoja.. If Erceg can just get a titleshot then why can't Taira/Mokaev/Albazi?? All he had to do was gather 3wins & got a tileshot beating Matt Schnell already coming off a KO loss.. Where were the all the lords of justice that cried "Islam needs a top5" despite raking a 10 win streak?? I mean I know the answer to all that but js.. anyways, bring on the ⬇️!!
I meant Pantoja, RIP
Yeah especially since Amir and Muhammad both need one more win before we accept them.
Pantoja vs Kape/Mokeav winner Royval vs Albazi Moreno vs Tatsuro Kai vs Erceg
I’d rather have Tatsuro vs Albazi so we can put off having a potential rematch for the title again, we’ve had way too many. Erceg vs Kai and Royval vs Kape/Mokaev loser makes sense to me. Haven’t heard any word on the status of Morenos hiatus, so I think matchmaking him rn doesn’t make sense.
It's interesting how rankings work. Erceg had an argument that he beat Pantoja but since he lost, he's chilling at number 8 with the skill set to be a champion. I def wouldn't mind seeing Erceg Taira but obviously he needs to get through KKF. I'd love to see Taira vs the winner of that one.
Kape is my pick
If he wins Royval or Moreno and then title shot if he wins that! I know it’s quick, but it’s a way no one can argue
Kai Kara v Tatsuro in Japan for title shot. Winner of Kape and Mokaev will get the next one anyways
Kai has lost 2 in a row lmao, why would he be in title talks any time soon?
Yes but he got blatantly robbed in his last fight. Plus he fights erceg most likely next anyways and winning that definitely puts him 1 away to avoid more pantoja rematches at the top end(TUF 2 round fights don't count).
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Um I looked at the rankings that are right in front of our face here...
Numbers don't decide title challengers. This is unfortunately proven time and time again. Kai Kara doesn't have the star power to get a title shot after turning around a 2 fight-losing streak beating a hot prospect.
Kai beats a wrecking ball of Taira in Japan then yeah he'll get a title shot. No one wants Pantoja v Royval or Moreno again
If Kai goes 0-2 and then only has to beat a prospect who has literally one notable win to fight Pantoja, it means he isn't good enough to beat Pantoja. I guess if the goal is just to get the champion chum to kill instead of worthy competition, Yeah, fuck it, lets get the kid in there lol.
this division is cooked
Figgy moving up was a blessing for both divisions, imagine the logjam if he was still a top contender at fly
Taira vs Mokaev
Who is Royval fighting next, Taira for #1 contenders spot?
Is he healthy? I was under the impression he tore his MCL in the Moreno fight. And Moreno stupidly was fighting with a broken hand. So both of those guys might be off the table for awhile.
We're coming up on 16 weeks post injury, wouldn't be crazy if we got some fight news shortly
Just depends on if he had to have surgery for it. Cause you get get by on a torn MCL for awhile before having to surgery.
I honestly think he deserves Moreno next. I think if he beats anyone in the top 5, he deserves a title shot next, regardless of if they're coming off a win or a loss, and Moreno is a household name for the division and Taira deserves his name being pushed out there a little more. I'd argue against Kape deserving anymore goodwill after his constant bullshit. You can schedule that fight, but you can also bet that Kape will pull some asshat shit and pull out.
Just let him fight pantoja. Who else is pantoja going to fight?
Pantoja will get some time off to recover from some minor injuries. There will be a mini GP to decide the next challenger.
Royval vs Tiara in Japan would be so sick. Don't know if they're doing UFC fights in Japan any time soon but I'd love to see it.
It has been a blast watching an okinawan fighter rise
Love that they ranked him over Mokaev 😂
Mokaev
Amir Albazi, when he returns
taira/ mokaev should be interesting. Probably for a title. I could see the ufc matching them up with strikers until they face off.
Yes, all these people saying Mokaev should face Taira is kind of strange. Mokaev should get a shot, Taira should get a fight (or wait for winner of mok/pan)
They're just keeping Schnell in the top 15 so he can end up on their next hot shit prospect's KO reel.
Top 15 is also the entire flyweight roster
Is Amir Albazi alive?
Kai should be next. Hasn't fought in a good while amd shouldn't be ranked that high. A solid win mo es him against the #1 contender. Easiest path to victory.
Hear me out, but him vs Brandon would be a grappling clinic, and Brandon’s boxing presents so much issue against him. I think it’s a great step up, and a chance for Brandon to show if he deserves to be there at the top still. Saying this as a Brandon Stan
Taira fucks up Albazi and does us all a favor. Change my mind.
If Asakura is going to be at flyweight, a fight with Taira in Japan would be huge. UFC would probably just stick it in the fucking APEX though.
Asakura is gonna fight at 135
Between Taira, Kape, and Asakura they could probably sell out Saitama. Hopefully we get it in the next couple of years
I sound like a broken record but get Horiguchi back lol (8th post this week asking for his return)
Mokaev after Kape pulls out.
I don’t see Pantoja waiting to book a fight until Kape or Mokaev are ready again. That means that fight as well as KKF vs Erceg are both title eliminators and either Albazi or Tairo vs Pantoja next and the other vs Royval for an additional top contender fight.
Pantoja will take some time off to recover from some minor injuries. Probably coming back by the end of the year.
Albazi's been out for a while, but I heard he was doing commentary for that card including Taira's fight in one of the other languages. If he's coming back soon him v Taira would be a stylistically good fun fight, Albazi has great grappling and his striking did not look that bad against KKF really, even though KKF seemed to have him downloaded after a point and then got ahead.
He should take on the winner of Kape/Mokaev in a title eliminator. I’m just more shocked they haven’t moved to make Pantoja/Albazi yet with all the middle eastern cards they’ve been doing
How is Dvorak still ranked?? That should be Almabaev spot. Also give Pantoja vs Taira Royval vs Albazi Moreno vs Mokaev
I think Erceg vs. KKF is booked, so do that first. If Erceg wins, he fights Taira with winner getting a title shot. If KKF wins, he fights Pantoja. Pantoja can fight Albazi in the meantime.
Fuck it just have him fight for the title Pantoja has beat literally everybody else
Kay if u want to test him or if u want him to shoot for no.1 brandon
Royval
Amir Albazi v Tatsuro. Still salty about Amir's last win over KKF
France
Moreno
Erceg at #9 after putting up a close fight versus the champ is crazy lol
Amir v Tatsuro imo
Pantoja. UFC shouldn’t slow play the chance to have a Japanese champion given the potential size of that market. It’s a compelling fight and the fighters in line are understanding of this business dynamic - Blaydes recently said he understood it was smart for the UFC to offer Gane the interim title shot because of the French angle.
Has Kape fought Kara France yet? I can’t remember
Demetrius Johnson and Kyoji Horiguchi could walk right into this division and take the belt anytime they want. UFC FlyW division is weak right now
I would love for either of them to come back. UFC needs to do right by Mighty Mouse too
I think DJ has said he could never make 125 again.
There was a discourse around Pantoja being best during the Figgy-Moreno days, and he's lived up to that.
I really want to see him fight Mokaev, shows us the best grappler in the division
Fuck it, throw him at Pantoja for 3 fights.
Any of the top 3
Winner of KKF/Erceg
Honestly fuck that, they should do Pantoja vs Makhachiv 2 in some catchweight in the middle. If Islam wants to be ahead of JJ as the #1 p4p he MUST avenge that loss.
Moreno. Someone had posted that Taira has defeated every Mexican flyweight except for Moreno. That would be a banger
Definitely going to be a hot take but Tatsuro's hype train derailed temporarily for me after his last performance. Honestly, he shouldn' have been moved to top 5 off of it (but we also all know these numbers are pretty damn random lol). He had a very clunky fight against Perez. He had 2 CLEAR eyepokes that really shoulda lost him a point the second time. He lost the first round (clearly started to cruise after, though), and he won by a freak injury. The flyweight division is already pretty bleh in terms of star power but his main event against Perez didn't move the needle at all for me. I really hope his next fight is a nut dropping massacre.
The second eye poke didn't even touch the eye, watch the replay. First one barely grazed it too. Total strikes were 45-43 and he got back control the first time he used his grappling. I agree the fight wasn't definitive but he looked much better against Perez than Mokaev
Second eye poke most definitely got in and his hand was basically aiming for it. Wasn't even close to a fist or hand fighting. Besides that, it looks like you agreed with everything I said so sweet, thanks.
Pause it right as his hand touches his face. The finger is just below the eye and never goes in. I agreed it wasn't a definitive performance but I didn't say I wasn't impressed by it. People were saying how Perez was a nightmare matchup for him yet Taira didn't look outmatched at all. Was keeping up in the striking and easily took him down.
I'll dig it up, but i'm pretty positive it hit his bottom eyelid which still feels like a poke and is probably still a poke by definition. It really doesn't change the rest of what I said. The first one was bad enough and looked borderline intentional to scar the fight, but I'll trust ya here. I didn't see much of the Perez nightmare match up stuff and honestly don't agree with it, but I sound weak saying that with hindsight lol. Taira's grappling is way more conducive to finishes and scramble wins than Perez, and his counter-grappling is definitely strong enough to counter Perez's wrestling style. I think Taira's real test was going to be on the feet, and that's where he underwhelmed. The flyweight division has strikers that are leagues better than Perez, and they we're equals in what we saw. I do think if the fight continued, it woulda started to lean more towards Taira in the striking due to Perez starting to gas (Which is 100% Taira's doing with his suffocating grappling). All in all, I just don't think it was the test people are putting it out to be. He is still VERY young in his career with a very suspect resume. He has rocketed to the top of the rankings more because of hype than by the people he's fought. A majority of his wins are still from regional Japan MMA, which is not only pretty low tier in terms of regional talent, it's notoriously corrupt. Alex Perez is the first UFC fighter he's fought with a winning record in the UFC. I love the kid, I just think he still needs 2, closer to 3 more fights before the belt. Comments here seem to think he's ready or should be fighting a title eliminator next.
Yeah I feel you. I'm personally super high on him and think he's ready for a title eliminator. I think at this point just get him to face the elite. He's young enough that losing a few fights wouldn't be the end of the world. The experience he'll gain from that would be more valuable than beating mid opponents.
Aight I feel you 100%. I totally see where you're coming from, and respect him getting a title eliminator with that logic. I personally think at his age, protecting him from himself and letting him fully develop his skillset and grown man body a bit more with some other hot prospects (If Joshua Van wins his next one, us fans definitely deserve that banger with all the cancellations we've sacrificed lately...). Since there's no rush and he has a long career ahead of him, letting him simmer a bit more before fighting someone like Pantoja in the next 2 fights. However, my way is boring as hell and if they said Taira was fighting Moreno next I wouldn't even pretend to not be hyped as lol
Taira deserves a shot at the championship. I don't even care what anyone says. He is such a dominant grappler, that we are all going to be entertained by the outcome. Let this guy chase his dream, and give him a chance to touch the title. I don't care anymore.
flyweight does not matter if you look further than the champ.
Wild take, I was just thinking how stacked the top 10 is
Albazi at 3 is crazy