UFC flyweight Brandon Royval was on a mission for a rematch with champ Alexandre Pantoja, but rising star Joshua Van looked to spoil his plans at UFC 317 on Saturday night.
Royval (17-7) has challenged Pantoja before losing via decision at UFC 296 in 2023. Since then he’s put together two victories and was set for fight Manel Kape at UFC 317, but lost the opponent to injury.
Van (14-2) stepped in for the injured Kape as he continued his spectacular run into stardom. Coming into UFC 317 with a 4-fight win streak he looked to steal Royval’s title shot on Saturday night.
Round 1 Royval came out using his range and throwing high volume with kicks and jabs. Van was very patient and literally waited for openings, but when he got them, he made them all count. The volume was clearly on Royval’s side, but the damage belonged to Van.
Round 2 Royval came out with the same game plan, but added power to his shots. He accepted that he’d take some damage in order to land and turned the pace and heat up. Van matched him with a ton of power.
Round 3 was a masterpiece in two fighters accepting that they were going to get hit and take damage and still went for the win. Royval went in with a ton of combos, but Van matched the intensity with fury in his punches. Near the end of the fight he dropped Royval and looked for the finish, but proved to be very tough.
The judges had an incredibly tough task of picking a winner, but the fight was clearly one of the best flyweight fights of the year if not all time.
Official Result: Joshua Van def. Brandon Royval via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
