Joshua Van delivered one other Battle of the Yr contender and efficiently defended his flyweight crown towards Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328 on Saturday evening.
The story of the opening spherical was a trio of takedowns from Taira, considered one of them coming lower than a minute into the conflict. Van managed to get again to his toes in all three cases and land some stable strikes, however the management time of Taira appeared to place the scorecards in his favor early on.
Taira secured one other takedown within the second, however the story of the spherical got here within the last minute when Van labored his manner up and unleashed a hellacious proper hand that put Taira on the mat. Van swarmed in in search of a end, however Taira weathered the storm and made it to the third.
Van continued to dominate within the third, flattening Taira as soon as once more and practically cinching in a rear-naked choke. However regardless of his greatest effort, Taira weathered the storm and ended the spherical on prime.
After a late takedown within the third, Taira recovered within the fourth and managed to place Van’s again on the mat for a lot of the 5 minutes. Sadly for Taira, that might be the final spherical he would see the tip of.
Within the fifth and last spherical, Van ripped to the physique a number of occasions earlier than touchdown a clear proper hand that had Taira on the ropes and showing to show his again. For referee Jason Herzog, that was justification to step in and name for the stoppage.
Taira instantly protested, however his physique language was that of a fighter unable to intelligently defend himself, thus the stoppage.
Official Consequence: Joshua Van def. Tatsuro Taira by way of TKO (strikes) at 1:32 of Spherical 5 to retain the UFC flyweight world championship.
Examine Out Highlights From Joshua Van vs. Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328:
