Preview: UFC on ESPN 58 ‘Perez vs. Taira’

The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday shifts back to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas with UFC on ESPN 58 and a card filled by lighter-weight competitors. That includes the main event—one of a few flyweight bouts on the bill—which sees Alex Perez keep up a shockingly active 2024 campaign by looking to hold serve against top prospect Tatsuro Taira. The co-headliner does not figure to generate much interest, as rising middleweight Ikram Aliskerov suits up for what should function as a showcase appearance against Octagon newcomer Antonio Trocoli. Everything else seems to be matched for action. Even the lone other fight above 145 pounds, a welterweight appetizer pitting Josh Quinlan against Adam Fugitt, should wind up being violent.

Now to the UFC on ESPN 58 “Perez vs. Taira” preview:

Flyweights

#5 FLW | Alex Perez (25-8, 7-4 UFC) vs. #13 FLW | Tatsuro Taira (15-0, 5-0 UFC)

ODDS: Taira (-185), Perez (+154)

Mixed martial arts is always full of surprises, but the 2024 resurgence of Perez has been a particularly pleasant development that wasn’t on anyone’s proverbial bingo card. An alum of the first Dana White’s Contender Series season in 2017, Perez had a fairly straightforward rise that went unnoticed amid the greater turmoil of the UFC potentially cutting the flyweight division. A bullying wrestler and grappler, Perez even split his time between flyweight and bantamweight in order to stay active and off of the chopping block. A 2020 win over Jussier Formiga eventually set Perez up for a title fight against Deiveson Figueiredo a few months later, which figured to at least be the moment for him to finally get some notice. Instead, he got submitted in under two minutes and the division moved on in record time, with Figueiredo turning around three weeks later to start a career-defining rivalry with Brandon Moreno. Perez seemed destined to become a footnote from there, particularly once it was apparent that his career was suddenly cursed. Perez had at least nine fight cancellations from 2021 through 2023, with his only bout during that time being a quick blowout loss to eventual champion Alexandre Pantoja. Perez finally got back in the swing of things in March, when he gave Muhammad Mokaev the toughest test of the young prospect’s career. It was a bit of a flat showing for Perez on the feet, but he did an impressive job of neutralizing the dogged wrestling game that has led Mokaev to almost all of his success. Wanting to make up for lost time, Perez then took a quick turnaround to main event against Matheus Nicolau less than two months later. That performance was much more in the vein of vintage Perez. Faced with a dedicated counterpuncher, Perez was able to pressure at will and eventually score an impressive second-round knockout. That has left Perez able to take another quick turnaround, so after a stretch of having only three fights in about four years, he takes his third fight in a shade over three months to test a top prospect in Taira.

This marks a huge step up in competition for Taira, a top Japanese talent the UFC has been content to slow play up until this point. Taira has some spectacular moments as a grappler, though getting there can be an adventure, as his overall approach sometimes leaves something to be desired. His striking can be overly patient, and that general tenor of patience also means he might take a while to start attempting to take the fight to the mat. It seemed like Taira might be marching himself into an upset loss for a bit thanks to some concerns around the margins—beyond his wrestling not being as effective as it should be, his 2023 decision win over Edgar Chairez was notable for how well “Puro Chicali” was able to neutralize Taira’s grappling threat—but a knockout win over Carlos Hernandez in December showed that he might be precise enough as a striker to make his current approach work despite its issues. This fight figures to serve as a proof of concept for that last point, as Perez should be able to neutralize Taira’s wrestling. Perez’s history of submission losses also suggests Taira’s grappling could be a threat, but the Japanese fighter doesn’t push the kind of pressure that has typically left the Team Oyama product open for those finishes in the past. Instead, this figures to settle in as a slow-paced striking match, and it’ll be interesting to see how both sides fare. Perez should theoretically be the more consistent striker in terms of both pressure and power, but his performance against Mokaev does raise the worry that his output could slow against an opponent who can mix things up with some threats on the mat. While the Hernandez fight always figured to be a bit of a walkover for Taira, his showing there does raise the idea that he can rifle out a knockout blow if there’s any sort of hesitancy on Perez’s part. Perez seems like the surer bet, but this is the right fight to answer some questions for the winner and launch him into a bigger spot. The pick is Perez via decision.

Jump To »
Perez vs. Taira
Aliskerov vs. Trocoli
Cuamba vs. Almeida
Johns vs. Silva de Andrade
Almabaev vs. Johnson
Quinlan vs. Fugitt
The Prelims