Amir Albazi believes Tatsuro Taira is one win away from having a chance to win the title and sees this as the final test for the Japanese prospect.
Albazi has been plagued by injuries and has not competed since winning his first UFC main event in June 2023 by split decision over Kai Kara-France. After undergoing heart surgery in November 2023, Albazi was preparing to face former champion Brandon Moreno at UFC Mexico in February of this year, but was forced to withdraw due to a neck injury that required emergency surgery. Brandon Royval stepped in to replace Albazi at short notice and avenged his 2020 loss to Moreno by split decision.
Pantoja has successfully defended his title three times since Albazi’s last fight, most recently against Steve Erceg in May of this year at UFC 301. For Albazi, it’s been tough watching fighters in other weight classes on the sidelines.
“That was very tough to deal with,” Albazi told MMAjunkie.com. “I actually had heart surgery in November, so imagine coming back from heart surgery and starting to train and being in camp. [for] “I was going to fight Moreno, who is the next title contender, and then I had to have another neck surgery. It was a shock every day to see guys just fighting and fighting and fighting. But it motivated me to fight again and be more active than ever.”
But Albazi has used her time off wisely, fine-tuning her fight and even switching gyms from Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas to Fight Ready in Scottsdale, Arizona, so the Iraqi star is set to be in her best form yet when she returns.
“I’m in better shape now than I’ve ever been because I’ve had the time in my career to really think about my style, my skills, what I can improve on, what I’m already good at and how to improve on that,” he said. “I’ve changed gyms so I don’t live in Las Vegas anymore. I train at Fight Ready in Phoenix. So I feel like I’m a lot better than I was a year ago. So I’m really excited. I want to get back. I used this time off in a good way, not to just sit and wait.”
The latest addition to the flyweight title race is unbeaten Japanese contender Taira, who has won four of his six UFC fights. Taira won an injury TKO over Alex Perez last month, but it was Taira who initiated the grappling exchange that caused Perez to hurt his knee. Either way, Albazi believes Taira needs one more win to be worthy of a title fight, and he’s open to facing the Japanese star when he returns to the Octagon.
“I think he needs one more fight against someone in the top five or six,” Albazi said. [Muhammad] Mokaev [vs.]
Manel Kape or him [Brandon] Moreno, [Brandon] Royval, anyone with combat experience. So after that battle [he
deserves the title shot]”Oh, sure, sure. The guy keeps winning and he’s a good guy. Or pit him against me. I’m up for that challenge too.”
