Manel Kape explains why he favors Joshua Van over Tatsuro Taira ahead of UFC 327

Manel Kape is intrigued by the flyweight title bout between Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira, and he believes the champion will retain.

The UFC 327 co-headliner will feature Van vs. Taira inside Kaseya Center in Miami on April 11. Kape was hoping to have his name called for the title fight, but he’ll instead have a rematch with his Rizin rival Kyoji Horiguchi on June 20.

During an interview with MMAJunkie, Kape shared his prediction for the title fight between Van and Taira.

“It’s an interesting fight – I don’t know,” Kape said. “To beat Joshua, you have to be very aggressive, and I don’t know if Tatsuro Taira have that aggression on the striking going forward, you know? Because we saw Joshua Van already, he was pretty good with another Japanese guy he fought. He had an incredible takedown defense. Rei Tsuruya, in my opinion, is more aggressive than Tatsuro Taira in terms of going for takedowns and going to push forward.

“Tatsuro Taira is more like the kind of style, not so aggressive striking, but more aggressive on the ground, but the fight doesn’t start on the ground. I don’t know, man. I think I’m going with Joshua Van.”

Van captured the UFC Flyweight Championship by defeating Alexandre Pantoja, but the bout didn’t end under ideal circumstances. Pantoja suffered an injury just 26 seconds into the bout. “The Fearless” is riding a six-fight winning streak, defeating the likes of Pantoja, Brandon Royval, and Bruno Gustavo da Silva.

As for Taira, he’s coming off a TKO victory over former 125-pound champion Brandon Moreno. Taira would make history if he can defeat Van as he’d become the first Japanese-born fighter to win a UFC title.

Do you agree with Manel Kape’s assessment of Joshua Van vs. Tatsuro Taira? Voice your opinion in the comments below.