Joshua Van is still the UFC flyweight champion. The fighter out of Myanmar beat Tatsuro Taira via TKO early in the fifth round. It was one of the best fights of 2026 in the UFC.
Van and Taira gave the people in Newark an absolute classic. Van defended the title for the first time. Taira lost the fight and is the eighth Japanese fighter to come up short in a UFC title fight.
An Instant Classic At Flyweight
Taira’s game plan was pretty clear. He wanted to get Van to the ground as soon as possible. The Japanese fighter secured an early takedown in the fight and climbed to the mount position. Van was able to get up but was immediately put on the ground again by Taira. Van was able to get up again, but Taira was relentless with the grappling and took the champion down again. A dominant first round for the challenger.
Van knew he was able to get up from the ground, but the problem was that Taira went for another takedown every time Van stood up. At the beginning of the second round, Van defended one of Taira’s takedowns with his back against the cage. Van finally found some success with the striking and tagged the Japanese fighter halfway through the second round. Unfortunately for Van, Taira went for another takedown and immediately took the mount position. Van worked his way back to the butterfly guard, but Taira kept working from top position. Taira looked for a guillotine choke but let go. Van, out of nowhere, dropped Taira with a vicious right hand. Taira survived the round, but Van evened the score after two rounds.
Van went fully after Taira at the beginning of the third round. Taira still looked a little wobbly but tried to keep the distance between him and the champion. The momentum was completely with Van. Taira looked again for the takedown, but Van was able to keep the fight on the feet. Taira looked in trouble on the feet and got knocked down again. Van jumped on Taira to finish the fight by ground-and-pound. Taira defended, so Van took his back and tried to finish the fight via rear-naked choke. Taira was able to escape and got back to his feet. It looked like it was just a matter of time before Van was going to finish the fight. In the final minute of the round, Taira went again for a takedown. Taira got it, but Van clearly won the round.
It Ain’t Over Until It Is Over
Taira started the fourth round with a hard calf kick followed by an immediate takedown. Taira was able to hold van on the ground for a long time. Van tried to turn away, but Taira wasn’t going to let him go. Taira went for the triangle choke, but Van was able to escape and stood up. Van tagged Taira again, but the Japanese fighter was not impressed. Taira tried to secure the round by a late takedown. Van defended against the cage.
The fight went into the fifth and final round. Van looked fresh and landed a couple of hard punches to the face. Taira knew he had to get Van to the ground and tried to take him down again. Van was able to stop the two takedowns early on. He came through with a couple of hard punches when referee Vitor Ribeiro stopped the fight. Van got the win by TKO in a flyweight classic.
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