The UFC returns to the Apex this weekend where two top five flyweights find themselves in very different positions.
Japan's Tatsuro Taira looks to extend his undefeated winning streak to earn his first title shot whereas Brandon Royval is out to prove why he deserves another shot at the belt.
At just 24-years old, Taira has already racked up six wins inside the Octagon before heading into his second main event spotlight.
Given this stellar run that has seen him take the #5-ranking at 125-pounds, he told the media that he believes this win will see him emerge as the next challenger for Alexandre Pantoja's title.
"Get this win and I think I'm gonna get the title fight"
Taira has always dreamed of being UFC champion and this carries additional weight because he has the opportunity to make history.
Despite many attempts, there is yet to be a Japanese UFC champion and with the promotion not returning to his home country since 2017, he hopes to change that by giving them a reason to go back.
"I'd love to have the UFC back in Japan and am I the star? Hopefully, I wanna be that star to bring the UFC back to Japan."
The rising star's grappling game has been his biggest advantage over his previous opponents so when coming up against an unpredictable and creative opponent like Royval, he knows that he needs to be switched on at all times.
"He's got a lot in his skill set, I know he's gonna show like spins or, just be cautious, be focused and keep giving him damage."
For Royval, he finds himself in a difficult position in regards to his title aspirations.
"Raw Dawg" has beaten many of the top contenders already but having suffered two defeats to Pantoja, he needs to really make some noise in order to get the opportunity to secure revenge.
"I'm not sure what I see [with] a win here but what I do see [with] a win here is me having a victory over the whole top five of the division and I'll be pretty f****** hard to deny pretty soon here. So my job here is once again, the same thing as the Moreno [fight], is to go make the matchmakers lives hard, make their jobs a little bit harder and make my job a little bit easier."
Having trained with Taira in the past, as recent as a year ago, Royval recently stated that he didn't expect to be fighting him this soon.
However, their previous friendly encounters will not play into the fight on Saturday night where the former title challenger is excited to show once again what he can do over five rounds.
"I feel like, cuz me and him have ran into each other, I've trained with him a handful of times. I feel like it's going to be one of those like, you know, anytime we see each other we're going to probably greet each other, smile, like all of the above and then when it's fight time, we're going to actually go for it so you're going to see two killers try to kill."
