Joshua Van made his first successful defense of the bantamweight title tonight at UFC 328 with a fifth round TKO stoppage of Tatsuro Taira.

Round One

The bantamweight title co-main event is underway.

Calf kick for Taira. Now he drives in for a takedown, goes to the cage and then lands it with authority.

Taira able to quickly pass into full mount and he’s got four minutes to work here.

Patience from Taira on top here. Single punch lands as Van is trying to work a butterfly guard.

Taira now goes to side control. Van gets to a knee and Taira threatens with a potential guillotine-choke attempt.

Taira lets go of that and Van gets upright. Van triples up on the jab and then a right hand too.

Jab lands for Taira too now. Van connects again. Both throw out the jab with Van’s landing cleaner, but then Taira lands a good takedown again.

Van has his back against the cage and is looking to stand, but Taira not making that easy for him. Van is able to get to his feet though, but Taira remains clinched up.

Nice inside trip from Taira to get another takedown and then slide into full mount again.

Elbow strike from Taira. Van scrambles back to his feet and lands a jab as the round ends.

Round Two

Taira thinks about the early takedown, but doesn’t commit to it. Van looking for strikes, but Taira’s fast entry sets up another potential takedown attempt against the cage.

Van able to fend off that takedown attempt. Fast hands from Van and a knee from Taira.

Van lands cleanly to the head. One-two from Taira. Trip takedown for Taira and straight into mount in the center of the Octagon.

Taira cinching up the legs, but even so Van manages to get his butterfly guard in.

Taira passes to half-guard and then mount. Van bucks him and gets back to half-guard.

Taira with some punches to the body. Van with a few punches off his back. Taira trying to work for a d’arce choke, but nothing doing there as Van gets back to his feet.

Van with straight punches and a powerful right hand floors Taira hard. Van follows him into his guard and land a few ground-and-pound punches. Taira able to make it to the end of the round.

Round Three

Jab for Van. He’s applying pressure here and landing more punches. An uppercut and another punch behind it now.

Taira tries for a takedown, but Van stuffs it this time. Body work from Van now. He lands the jab and then a right hand soon after.

Solid calf kick from Taira. Big knee from Van. Taira bloodied up now. Hard uppercut lands for Van.

Jabs from Van and Taira with a delayed reaction as he slowly sinks to the mat. A few ground-and-pound blows from Van and Taira gets up weakly, only to be brought back down and Van is now taking the back looking for a rear-naked choke.

Taira gets out and back to his feet, but he’s in real trouble here. Jabs exchanged.

right hook lands for Van. Taira faking a shot, but he really does need to get this fight to the mat.

Nice left hand from Van. Taira with a punch to set up a takedown against the cage, but Van is defending it against the cage. Taira doggedly sticks to his taask and gets Van down to one knee, but he quickly stands again.

Big takedown does land now for Taira. Van does well to scramble back up though. Left hook lands for Taira. Both land the jab.

Round Four

Calf kick for Taira knocks Van off-balance for a moment. Quick exchange of punches with Van looking dangerous, but then Taira is able to clinch and lands his latest takedown attempt.

Van working his butterfly guard. Taira cinches his legs. He manages to move into mount. Shoulder strikes from the challenger.

Taira has had this dominant position many times, but hasn’t done too much with it.

A few strikes from Taira. Van scrambling and Taira tries for a triangle choke, but Van breaks free and gets to his feet.

Jab for Van. He lands it hard again. Repeated jabs fire off from the lightning quick Van.

Taira trying to work his jab, but Van’s wins out. Taira shoots for a takedown, but Van stuffs it. Taira still working for it against the cage though.

Back to striking range they go in the final 10 seconds and Van fires off a few punches.

Round Five

Taira with a jab. Right hand for Van. He lands his jab. Another right hand for Van.

Taira with a right hand now. He goes in for a takedown and drives over to the cage, but Van peels away. Taira follows up with another takedown that’s stuffed.

A couple of good strikes for Van and then stuffs another takedown. Body shots from Van and then blasts him to the head. Taira turning away and trying to get some space, but he eats another hard punch and the ref decides he’s taken enough punishment and ends the fight, handing Van a TKO victory at 1.32mins of the final round.

Taira protests the stoppage, and perhaps could have been given a little extra time to recover there, but he’d taken a lot of punishment over the course of the fight from Van’s fast, lazer-accurate punches.