Joshua Van drops Tatsuro Taira with devastating fifth-round KO at UFC 328

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Joshua Van held onto his flyweight title in the UFC 328 co-main event with a late finish over Tatsuro Taira at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Van had a slow start and spent much of the early rounds fighting off Taira’s grappling pressure. But as the fight went on, Van began to find his rhythm and started landing cleaner shots.

Taira stayed competitive, even nearly taking Van’s back in the fourth round. However, Van’s persistence paid off in the fifth when he dropped Taira and finished him with ground-and-pound.

Breaking down Joshua Van’s UFC 328 win over Tatsuro Taira

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Tatsuro Taira opened the fight with four takedowns, setting the pace early in round one. Despite spending much of the opening round on his back, Van managed to get up a few times and landed some sharp punches that got him going.

The champion connected with even bigger shots in the second, but Taira responded by taking him down again. The crowd showed their frustration as Taira kept control without causing any real damage.

But that changed when Van returned to his feet and dropped Taira hard at the end of the round, earning a big reaction from fans. Taira looked slow out of the gate in round three, still feeling the effects from earlier. Van avoided every takedown and dominated most of the frame with clean striking.

Even so, despite being bloodied up, he managed to land another takedown late in the third to stay competitive. Taira leaned on his grappling again early in round four, keeping control for about three minutes before switching to a jab vs. calf kick exchange down the stretch.

Van turned up his pressure after brushing off more wrestling attempts early in round five before hurting Taira badly with a shot to the body – finishing it off with several follow-ups before referee Marc Goddard stopped it somewhat prematurely.