Top UFC flyweight contender Tatsuro Taira issued a statement following his TKO loss to Joshua Van in the co-main event of UFC 328.
In a back-and-forth Fight of the Night war that went to the fifth round, Van knocked Taira out to defend his UFC flyweight championship for the first time. For Taira, it was a tough-luck loss since he was tied with Van 38-38 on two judges’ scorecards heading into the final round, meaning if he won the last round, he would have won the belt. But it was all for naught, as Van dropped Taira and referee Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro stepped in and stopped the bout, waving it off for the winner Van, who officially won the fight by TKO at 1:32 of R5.
Despite the loss, however, Taira, along with Van, each earned $100,000 Fight of the Night bonuses, which should help take some of the sting away from losing this epic flyweight title bout. But he would surely prefer to have had the belt wrapped around his waist than get the bonus.
Tatsuro Taira Issues Statement After UFC 328
For Taira, this was a tough defeat, but he is only 26 years old, so he can bounce back from this loss in short order if he picks up a few more key wins.
Taking to his social media the day after the fight, Taira issued a statement thanking his supporters and writing that he will fight for the belt again one day.
“Thank you for all your support. Being able to go to the UFC title match with my favorite people, I wanted to take the belt and rejoice with them, but yesterday didn’t happen. Be strong enough to beat whoever is. We will definitely make it to the title match again,” Taira wrote on Instagram (translated from Japanese).
What’s Next for Tatsuro Taira?
Following the loss to Van, it will be interesting to see what the UFC matchmakers choose to do with Taira for his next bout.
Taira is the No. 3-ranked flyweight right now, and he won’t drop down much, if at all, after this loss. Right beneath him at No. 4 is Brandon Royval, another elite flyweight fighter who was in attendance last night at UFC 328. Royval holds a split decision win over Taira from 2024, and with Royval also trying to get back into the title picture, a rematch between these two could be a great option.
Another option would be to match Taira up with the loser of the upcoming flyweight bout in June between No. 2-ranked Manel Kape and No. 5-ranked Kyoji Horiguchi. The winner of that bout will likely be in line to fight for the title before the end of the year, but the loser of that fight against Taira makes a lot of sense.
Otherwise, Taira may decide to take a bit of time off and heal up after taking a ton of damage against Van. But whenever he does decide to return, he will surely be placed in a high-profile flyweight bout, because as he proved against Van, he is one of the best in the world at 125 lbs.
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