Alex Perez and Tatsuro Taira at the UFC Las Vegas 93 weigh-in. Credit: Youtube/UFC
Alex Perez and Tatsuro Taira closed out UFC Las Vegas 93, but the fight night card felt overshadowed by an eventful week for the promotion, with both Conor McGregor and Khamzat Chimaev withdrawing from key upcoming bouts.
But Taira was undefeated with 15 wins and could be considered the first Japanese title contender since Kyoji Horiguchi, and he was looking to step up his game against Perez, who fought in 2020 in a bout that ended with him missing out on a title shot against Devathon Figueiredo.
Early in Saturday’s main event, Perez had the Japanese youngster backed up against the fence but struggled to contain him. Taira instead turned the tide, landing a knee after the break. Undaunted, Perez moved closer, landing a few punches to the body and trying to clinch again, but to no avail. But Perez turned the bout into a brawl, landing wide, looping hooks and hard uppercuts throughout the round, pushing Taira out of his preferred territory and negating his greatest strength: grappling. Late in the round, Perez laced in low kicks and landed a straight right. With a minute left, Perez was poked in the eye and the bout was stopped.
The bout resumed and Perez got a knockdown, but couldn’t hold it and Taira quickly got back to his feet.
Less than a minute into the second round, the same scene was repeated. This time, referee Herb Dean gave Taira a warning. After the restart, Perez came out strong and continued to mix in kicks to the calf. Taira fought back with jabs and low kicks, but he lacked aggression and needed a change of momentum. So he changed levels and went for a takedown. Taira climbed onto his back instead, and Perez lifted his opponent’s full weight well off the cage. Taira got a body triangle and had nowhere to go. After Taira leaned back and shifted his weight, they were on the ground in the next second. Alex Perez appeared to injure his knee in the process and quickly tapped out to end the bout.
After the win, Taira demanded a title fight against flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja.
Official result: Tatsuro Taira defeats Alex Perez by TKO (injury), Round 2, 2 minutes, 59 seconds
