UFC 317 didn’t feel like other International Fight Week cards on paper.
A bit thin, if you will. A lack of star power outside of the main event. Yet in the end, it seems the UFC matchmakers knew what they were doing. Thunderous finishes, hotly contested back-and-forth battles, and a new double-champ all emerged from the Las Vegas-based card on Saturday.
The UFC’s flyweight division was once on life support, much maligned and unable to get anything more than a yawn out of fans, despite the dominance of then-champ Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. These days, the 125lb weight class might be the UFC’s most improved, and on Saturday, Brandon Royval and Joshua Van demonstrated just that, putting on an instant classic that Joe Rogan later called once of the best flyweight fights ever.
Van, red-hot of late and making a quick turnaround, came away with a unanimous decision win over the former title challenger- and punched his own ticket to a title shot. He was brought into the cage later in the evening to face off with Alexandre Pantoja, who had choked out Kai Kara-France in the UFC 317 co-main event. Van has won five fights in roughly nine months, a Cowboy-like pace. In addition to the title shot, he and Royval were awarded Fight of the Night on Saturday, and deservedly so.
Performance of the Night bonuses went to Gregory Rodrigues, who knocked Jack Hermansson out cold (yes, the follow-up punch was unnecessary, but not the fault of “Robocop,” one of the nicest fighters you’ll meet, but rather ref Herb Dean getting to the scene a step or two late), and headliner Ilia Topuria. Claiming a second title at lightweight after vacating his featherweight belt, “El Matador” knocked out Charles Oliveira inside of a round to etch his name in the history books and improve to 17-0.
All four bonus-winners pocket the usual $50,000 U.S. on top of their purse and outfitting pay.
