The flyweight bout between Tatsuro Taira and Alex Perez has been reportedly set as the main event for UFC Fight Night at UFC Apex in Las Vegas on June 15 aka UFC Vegas 93. The contest pits the unbeaten No. 15 of Japan against former title challenger and No. 5 of Hanford, California.
In his previous outing last December, Taira (15-0) stopped Carlos Hernandez in the second round. Perez (25-8) is fresh off the win via second-round KO against Matheus Nicolau in April.
Tatsuro Taira was expected to face Joshua Van (10-1) of Myanmar at UFC 302: Makhachev vs Poirier in Newark, NJ on June 1. The latter now fights on the same card on June 15 against Tagir Ulanbekov (15-2), who was set to meet Alex Perez in the rescheduled bout.
Ulanbekov and Perez were originally set to battle it out on this card, but the former flyweight title challenger was pulled to replace Manel Kape in April at UFC Vegas 91, where he stopped Matheus Nicolau in the second round. Early May, the fight between Ulanbekov and Perez was reported to be back on for June 15. It no longer goes ahead, as Perez takes on Taira on the top of the fight card, and Ulanbekov fights Van.
The bouts were reported by Eurosport’s Marcel Dorff via post on X. The promotion is yet to formally confirm the matchups.
The current UFC Vegas 93 lineup looks as the following:
- Alex Perez vs. Tatsuro Taira, flyweight
- Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Joshua Van, flyweight
- Jimmy Flick vs. Nate Maness, flyweight
- Adam Fugitt vs. Josh Quinlan, welterweight
- Garrett Armfield vs. Brady Hiestand, bantamweight
- Julia Polastri vs. Josefine Lindgren Knutsson, women’s strawweight
- Carli Judice vs. Gabriella Fernandes, women’s flyweight
- Andre Muniz vs. Ikram Aliskerov, middleweight
- Jeka Saragih vs. Westin Wilson, featherweight
- Asu Almabayev vs. Jose Johnson, flyweight
- Lucas Almeida vs. Timmy Cuamba, featherweight
- Miles Johns vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade, bantamweight
