UFC on ESPN 58 at Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night features a flyweight bout between Alex Perez and Japan’s Tatsuo Taira.
Perez (25-8 MMA, 7-4 UFC) dropped his first fight in nearly two years in December, but returned to the octagon to score a big knockout of Matheus Nicolau in April. Perez, 32, now enters Saturday’s fight ranked fifth in the division.
He’ll face a stiff test in the 13th-ranked Taira, who has won each of his first five UFC fights to run his overall record to 14-0. The undefeated prospect is the -200 favorite at BetMGM, where he has been backed by 66 percent of the fight money, while Perez has drawn 55 percent of the total bets.
This is a significant step up in class for the 24-year-old Taira, who has finished three of his first five UFC fights, including wins over CJ Vergara and Carlos Hernandez.
“The reason why no one can beat me at flyweight is because they don’t know what my strongest thing is,” Taira said. “For this main event, I will make my statement to finish and do anything to win. That’s the main mission.”
Other fights on the main card:
Miles Johns (-140) vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade (+115)
Lucas Almeida (+165) vs. Timmy Cuamba (-200)
Brady Hiestand (+160) vs. Garrett Armfield (-190)
Jose Johnson (+425) vs. Asu Almabayev (-600)
Adam Fugitt (+105) vs. Josh Quinlan (-125)
–Field Level Media