5 takeaways from UFC Fight Night: Tatsuro Taira vs. Hyun Sung Park

The UFC was back at the Las Vegas APEX last night. The Fight Night event produced was not exactly the most memorable, but it did have a couple of strong moments.

UFC Fight Night: Tatsuro Taira vs. Hyun Sung Park always lacked in name value and even had a late-notice headliner, but thankfully, that fight delivered the goods.

Overall, though, it's unlikely fans will remember this one for long, despite a handful of talking points.

Here are five takeaways from UFC Fight Night: Tatsuro Taira vs. Hyun Sung Park.

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#5. Rinya Nakamura deserved a $50k bonus award for his finish of Nathan Fletcher

This weekend's preliminary card had one clear outstanding moment, and it was produced by Japanese star Rinya Nakamura.

A former freestyle wrestler of some renown, Nakamura had garnered a lot of hype thanks to three straight wins in the UFC, but a loss to Muin Gafurov in January took a lot of the shine away.

However, his win over Nathan Fletcher last night should be good enough to restore a lot of that hype. It was absolutely good enough to earn him a $50k bonus, and quite why he didn't receive it, only Dana White knows.

'Hybrid' needed just one minute to dispatch Fletcher. He cracked him with a liver kick that Bas Rutten would've been proud of, causing him to double over, and quickly finished him with punches.

Whether the Japanese fighter is ready for a step up after his loss to Gafurov is a bit of a question mark, but at the age of 30, it's probably worth giving him a shot.

His striking certainly looked more polished last night, and he's an outstanding athlete. If nothing else, he's earned a main card spot next time out after this showing.

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#4. Neil Magny is back on track and proved his UFC career is not over yet

One fighter whose UFC career appeared to be on the brink coming into this weekend's event was welterweight gatekeeper Neil Magny.

'The Haitian Sensation' had lost his last two fights, being stopped by both Carlos Prates and Michael Morales, and only had one win in his last four bouts.

Although his recent losses had all come to fighters now in the top 15, a third loss in a row would've been a very bad look, particularly against an opponent not renowned as a hot prospect.

Thankfully for Magny, he dealt with Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos in impressive fashion, and appears to be well back on track.

After a tight first round, 'The Haitian Sensation' gained top position in the second, and from there, he put a beating on 'Capoeira', stopping him late in the stanza.

The win may actually prove to be a poisoned chalice of sorts for Magny. His next fight is almost guaranteed to come against another hot prospect, and therefore, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him lose.

However, his win last night proved that he's far from shot, and that means he's still very useful to the UFC as a high-level welterweight gatekeeper. For now, that's all he needs.

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#3. Esteban Ribovics and Elves Brener quietly put on one of the best fights of 2025

The best fight on offer in the APEX last night undoubtedly came from lightweights Esteban Ribovics and Elves Brener. Their wild brawl quite rightfully earned them both a $50k bonus.

Quite how neither man suffered a clean knockdown across the three rounds was honestly anyone's guess. In the end, the two men combined for a pretty crazy 240 significant strikes, with Ribovics landing 122, Brener 118.

In the end, though, the nod went to Ribovics. 'El Gringo' was able to control the pace of the fight and seemed to be just one step ahead of Brener at all points, despite taking plenty of damage in his own right.

The Argentine native is now 4-2 in the UFC, and it could be time to give him another slight step up. He didn't look outclassed in his loss to Nasrat Haqparast, after all.

As for Brener, he's now on a three-fight losing streak, but hopefully, the promotion keeps him around regardless. He's never produced anything but a fun fight in his time in the octagon, and the UFC always needs fighters like that.

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#2. Hyun Sung Park's gamble did not pay off and could affect his UFC career badly

This weekend's headline bout was supposed to see Amir Albazi take on Tatsuro Taira in an intriguing clash of top 10-ranked flyweights.

Unfortunately, Albazi was sidelined earlier this week, and so prospect Hyun Sung Park ended up taking the fight on late notice.

Prior to this weekend, Park was seen as a strong prospect at 125 pounds. He'd won 2023's Road to the UFC tournament, and had then picked up two octagon wins to take his overall record to 10-0.

Unfortunately, 'Peace of Mind' was thoroughly outclassed last night. He suffered a bad knockdown from Taira in the first round and ended up tapping to a face crank in the second.

Realistically, it was a step too far for Park and was the sort of loss that could affect his overall career going forward.

More importantly, though, the promotion no longer seems to look after fighters who bail them out in this fashion like they once did under the Fertitta brothers. Overall, then, Park's gamble didn't go his way and could blow up in his face.

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#1. Tatsuro Taira is a genuine threat to the flyweight title

While Hyun Sung Park probably regrets his decision to take last night's headliner on late notice, it's fair to say that his opponent put on an outstanding showing.

Tatsuro Taira was coming into the bout off the back of his first career loss, a tight split decision defeat to former flyweight title challenger Brandon Royval.

Given Taira's young age, to see him suffer a hangover from the defeat wouldn't have been too much of a shock.

However, the Japanese star instead turned in the best showing of his UFC career to date. He absolutely dominated Park, dropping him in the first round before bullying him on the ground, finally finishing him with a face crank in the second.

Sure, a win over Amir Albazi would've been more impressive, but based on this showing, if that fight gets put back together, we should probably expect Taira to be considered the favorite.

Judging by this, the Japanese star is a very real contender for the flyweight title currently held by Alexandre Pantoja. To see him challenge for it in the future would not be a surprise.

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Edited by Nicolaas Ackermann