I was definitely an Alex Perez hater this year. i made cracks about his last win being 4 years ago and essentially counted him out. Then he had a decent showing against Mokaev where he defended takedowns and scrambled well but was low volume. He had a quick turnaround after that fight to knockout Mateus Nicolau in his first main event. Now all of the sudden I am sitting here about to pick him to beat arguably the best prospect in the division. Alex is the better striker in this matchup and as we saw in the Mokaev fight, he can defend and scramble as well. I genuinely think Perez can win this fight and will be picking him to do. He sits at a +165 dog and I will watch the line movement tracker to see if that gets better, if so, I will wait, if the line tightens, i may jump on it.

Alex Perez

Alex Perez is a very good striker with fantastic low kicks and solid wrestling. He enters the pocket with solid boxing combinations and then finishes those exchanges with leg kicks and then circles out. He averages more than 2 takedowns per fight and has a very impressive 82% takedown defense. He is coming off the KO win over Mataeus Nicolau in a short notice main event slot, just like one.

Tatsuro Taira

Tatsuro Taira remains undefeated and one of the best flyweight prospects on the planet. He is only 24 years old but he has 15 fights with 12 finishes. Style wise he is a very patient striker with ok power in his hands and strong grappling. He does not have the best takedowns in the division but he will stick with them and drag you to the ground. He is coming off his first standing KO win in the UFC.