Brandon Royval showed he still warrants consideration as one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s flyweight elite.
The resilient Factory X standout called upon superior standup, bulletproof submission defense and a seemingly endless gas tank to outlastheadliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three member of the judiciary struck 48-47 scorecards: Sal D’Amato for Taira, Chris Lee and Ron McCarthy for Royval.
Taira was stellar in the grappling exchanges through four rounds, as he advanced to the back on multiple occasions, secured his position with body triangles, applied his ground-and-pound and threatened the neck. Royval answered on the feet, where he connected with surgical combinations and the occasional knee. He had Taira on the proverbial ropes early in the third round, as he sent two-, three- and four-punch volleys crashing into his head.
Gooden , who missed weight for the match by 1.5 pounds, mustered little in terms of meaningful offense. Njokuani dissected him in close quarters, hammering away with knees to the midsection and short elbows the head. Gooden at times seemed content to take a 15-minute beating.
Garcia could not stay on his feet and paid a steep price as a result. Dawson executed a takedown in the first round and let fly with hammerfists, elbow strikes and punches. It was a harbinger of what was to come. He took down Garcia inside the first minute of second period and hacked open a nasty cut on his forehead with a perfectly placed elbow. Blood spurted from the wound, and gave Dawson the go-ahead to increase intensity of his strikes.
Morono led the dance through much of the first five minutes. The Fortis MMA rep countered effectively, mixed in a few kicks and connected with a number of looping overhand rights. Rodriguez picked up his pace in the middle stanza and probed for openings at all levels, targeting the body, head and legs. Suddenly, momentum was his.
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