‘The Best’ vs. ‘The Fearless’: What Should We Expect and Who Comes Out on Top?
The UFC men's Flyweight Championship will finally be on the line in 2026. It was confirmed this past weekend that the number three-ranked UFC men's flyweight contender Tatsuro 'The Best' Taira will face champion Joshua 'The Fearless' Van for the strap. The bout will take place at UFC 327 in the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, on April 11th. The other confirmed fights on the card so far include Kevin 'Trailblazer' Holland vs. Randy Brown, and number two-ranked women's strawweight Tatiana Suarez vs. number six-ranked Loopy Godinez. This is Van's first title defense since taking the belt from Alexandre 'The Cannibal' Pantoja at UFC 323 after Pantoja suffered a freak accident shortly into the first round. Taira recently scored a controversial second-round TKO victory over former two-time men's Flyweight Champion Brandon 'The Assassin Baby' Moreno on the same card. Both fighters have electric styles that fans have come to enjoy. Here are the best ways both fighters could win, and which fighter is more likely to come out as the men's Flyweight Champion.
Let's start with the challenger. Taira is known for being a well-rounded fighter with few holes in his game. Although he leans a little more on his ground game, his striking is nothing to scoff at as he has scored a couple of knockouts in his UFC career, including being the first fighter to finish Moreno. 'The Best' should look to mix up his striking from the body to the head. He also needs to work on head movement, blocking punches, and other ways to minimize damage from Van's strikes. Too many significant strikes from Van could stop 'The Best' in his tracks. Taira should focus on landing multiple strikes and focusing on footwork and head movement before securing a takedown. While Van has an impressive 81 percent stuffing rate in the UFC, we have yet to see him tested by a top contender who excels at it. He has three submission finishes in the UFC as well. Van has to worry about submission attempts should he get knocked down or taken down. Van has also not faced a well-rounded fighter of Taira's caliber. If Van worries too much about the takedowns, he might willingly take a few significant strikes from Taira that could get him knocked down. Expect Taira to find every opening to bring the fight to the ground, where the sky is the limit for 'The Best'.
The champ is up next. Van's breakout year in 2025 made him a beloved fighter among fight fans, but his unceremonious win and post-fight celebration left a bad taste in their mouths. 'The Fearless' primarily throws vicious punches at an outrageous 8.84 significant strikes landed per minute, has good head movement and footwork, and has great takedown defense, although we have yet to see him tested by a top grappler in the division. Pantoja was supposed to be that test. 'The Fearless' needs to work on his takedown defense from elite grapplers and head movement from elite strikers during training camp if he wants a chance at walking out with a successful title defense. 'The Fearless' needs to ensure he doesn't give his back up or be taken down on his back. On top, Taira punishes his opponents with relentless ground and pound. From the back position, he has a neck crank finish and could pull out a rear naked choke should the opportunity present itself. It is likely, however, that Taira will take the fight to the ground. 'The Fearless' needs to train on working off his back, whether controlling Taira's hands in the bottom position or finding openings to sweep and take the fight back to the feet. Expect 'The Fearless' to keep the fight on the feet by maintaining distance, picking his moments of popping in-and-out to land a few strikes, sticking close to the center of the octagon, and stuffing as many takedown attempts as possible.
Who comes out as the men's Flyweight Champion? It honestly depends on how the fight goes. The styles in this bout leave many analysts and fight fans in the dark. On paper, 'The Best' seems to be the favorite going into the fight. His overall skill set, particularly his ground game, seems to be too much for Van to handle. However, we could also see 'The Best' land heavy shots and get an unexpected knockout. You also can never count a champion out, and 'The Fearless' hasn't been able to showcase all of his skills against an elite fighter in the octagon. He could pull off the unthinkable and knock out Taira in fashion. This bout has Fight of the Night written all over it and could be a potential candidate for Fight of the Year in 2026. I believe we will see 'The Best' win via ground-and-pound TKO or 'The Fearless' win by unanimous decision.
