Alan Jouban has given his detailed take on the upcoming flyweight title showdown between Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira, set as the co-main event of UFC 327 on April 11 at the Kaseya Center in Miami.
Van is scheduled to defend the UFC flyweight belt after capturing it from Alexandre Pantoja by injury TKO in just 26 seconds at UFC 323. He enters the bout with a 16-2 professional record and a 9-1 mark in the UFC, while Taira brings an 18-1 overall record and an 8-1 UFC slate into his title challenge.
“Tatsuro Taira has got that, I call it the cheetah shot,” Jouban said while assessing the stylistic matchup. “He's so fast. He scrambles. If he gets ahold of you, he finds the back. Joshua Van is just such a polished striker, but I haven't seen enough of him in these scramble positions to feel comfortable saying I think he's able to stuff these takedowns for 25 minutes and stay on the feet.”
“So it's got me leaning toward Tatsuro Taira, but because I feel like over the course of 25 minutes, he might find something. Even if Joshua Van's piecing him up for three rounds, there's always that opportunity that he makes one mistake and Taira slaps on the choke.”
Most of Taira’s wins have come by submission, and he is coming off a TKO finish of former champion Brandon Moreno at UFC 323. Van, the reigning champion, is listed as a betting underdog against Taira, while Jouban notes that Van’s ground game “remains a question mark.”
