Interim strawweight champion Ryuya Fukuda has the opportunity to become the undisputed champion at Shooto 0620 in Osaka. But he will need to become the first man to ever beat Tatsuro Taira in order to do it.
Fukuda (12-5-1) won the interim strawweight title by stopping seasoned veteran Yoshiro Maeda in the third round at Shooto 0712. He has been on the promotion’s roster for nearly a decade and is riding a three fight winning streak.
Taira (8-0) is coming off a first round submission win over Maeda at Shooto 0320. At Shooto 1123 he scored a decision win over Kiyotaka Shimizu and beating two experienced opponents in succession was enough to earn the 21 year old a title shot.
The strawweight title was previously the property of Hiroshi Minowa. But he vacated the belt in order to sign with ONE Championship which is why Shooto decided to introduce an interim version of the strap.
In 2009 Rambaa Somdet became the inaugural Shooto strawweight champion. Since then the title has been held by fighters like Yoshitaka Naito and Yosuke Saruta.
Next up for the promotion is Shooto 0516. That event is set for Tokyo on May 16th and will be headlined by a lightweight fight between Nobumitsu Osawa and Yamata Nishikawa.
Shooto 0620, Tokyo, June 6th
Ryuya Fukuda vs. Tatsuro Taira (For flyweight title)
