Brandon Royval picked up the first finish on the UFC 253 main card on pay-per-view (PPV) in Abu Dhabi, forcing Kai Kara-France to tap out via guillotine.
Just months ago, Brandon Royval was a UFC newcomer who made a splash, in part for winning his debut against former title challenger Tim Elliott. In part as well for bemoaning that performance, worried it wouldn’t be good enough to allow him to quit his day job.
By the end of the night at UFC Vegas 1 back in May, Royval had earned a Performance of the Night bonus. He landed in the UFC’s flyweight rankings shortly thereafter. Day job? Who needs it.
At UFC 253, Royvl had a shot to jump up the ladder in the division, thanks to being paired up with seventh ranked flyweight Kai Kara-France — teammate of main event star Israel Adesanya. The fight opened up with a bang. Kara-France landed a huge overhand, and Royval responded with a big sppinning elbow, each dropping the other with their respective shots. Both men ended up on the ground and a scramble ensued. Royval ended up on top in half guard but Kara-France got back to his feet.
Royval kept the pressure going and knocked Kara-France down. Royval locked in a guillotine choke but Kara-France popped out and got back to his feet. Royval again pushed th pace with big shots, Kara-France landed one big counter shot, but Royval continued to come forward before Kara-France clinched things up. The round came to an end.
The second round began with some big shots being exchanged again, and Royval locked in a guillotine and pulled guard, forcing Kara-France to tap out.
Official Result: Brandon Royval def. Kai Kara-France via R2 submission (guillotine, 0:48)
