Bogus stoppage? Fighters and fans react to ref stepping in on Van vs. Taira at UFC 328
Joshua Van just defended his flyweight title for the first time at UFC 328, but it wasn’t without controversy. The Burmese-American champ took the fight to Tatsuro Taira in a wild scrap that saw Van nearly finish things in a violent third round. Taira would survive and then nearly finish the fight with a lightning […]
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - MAY 09: Joshua Van of Myanmar reacts after a TKO victory against Tatsuro Taira of Japan in the UFC flyweight championship fight during the UFC 328 event at Prudential Center on May 09, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC) Joshua Van just defended his flyweight title for the first time at UFC 328, but it wasn’t without controversy. The Burmese-American champ took the fight to Tatsuro Taira in a wild scrap that saw Van nearly finish things in a violent third round.
Taira would survive and then nearly finish the fight with a lightning fast triangle in the fourth. In the fifth, Van went back to punishing Taira with shots to the body and face, putting it on the Japanese challenger to the point where the referee stepped in and waved things off (watch the highlights here). Taira wasn’t out, but he was getting brutalized.
Immediately after the stoppage he pulled his mouthguard out and threw it in anger. And he wasn’t the only one upset with the referee’s decision to stop things. After surviving what he survived in the third round, many fighters and fans online felt like “The Best” deserved the right to keep going.
To add to the controversy, two judges had the fight 2-2 going into the fifth. This wasn’t a one sided beating the referee saved Taira from … it was a fight he still had three and a half minutes to potentially win, or at least earn a split draw on the scorecards. Take a look at the reactions below.