UFC APEX – UFC flyweight Tatsuro Taira comes into his first promotional main event against Alex Perez with some lofty goals in mind as he gets set to fight at UFC Vegas 93 on Saturday night.
“My target is (Alexandre) Pantoja,” Taira told reporters through a translator on Thursday.
Taira (15-0) comes into his first main event after fighting on the prelims so far in his UFC run.
“I’m pretty happy to be in the main card, a main event, of course I’m (on) the poster. I was signing on my face. Totally excited about that,” he said.
There is plenty on the table for the Japanese MMA star to gain with a victory over Perez in a main event. With a new champion on the throne, and most of the top of the division booked up, Taira could find himself jumping ahead of the line to Pantoja.
He has a couple of names in mind before getting to the title.
“I want to fight with (Muhammad) Mokaev or (Manel) Kape,” he said.
The UFC recently signed Kai Asakura which was welcomed by Taira as he hopes to make MMA more popular in his home country.
“It’s good to have lots of Japanese fighter(s) in the UFC. We can work on (making) UFC more popular in Japan,” he said.
Watch the entire media day scrum above. Tatsuro Taira takes on Alex Perez in the main event of UFC Vegas 93 on Saturday night.
