Tag: Brandon Royval

Former Opponent Says He Massively Enjoyed Watching Brandon Moreno’s Bounce Back Win: ‘This Is What I Want To See’

#1-Ranked flyweight contender Brandon Royval was watching closely this past weekend as the UFC returned to Edmonton for a Fight Night event. In the main event, former champion Brandon Moreno reminded everyone just how good he can be. The Mexican star put on a dominant performance to hand Amir Albazi his first loss inside the […]

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#1-Ranked flyweight contender Brandon Royval was watching closely this past weekend as the UFC returned to Edmonton for a Fight Night event. In the main event, former champion Brandon Moreno reminded everyone just how good he can be.

The Mexican star put on a dominant performance to hand Amir Albazi his first loss inside the Octagon, looking back to his best after suffering consecutive losses in his last two outings. His boxing skills and speed have always been two of his best attributes but it’s been a while since we really saw him control a fight from start to finish.

Earlier this year, Moreno faced Royval in a rematch in Mexico City where after losing a split decision, he announced that he would be taking some time off. Though Moreno didn’t stay away from the gym for too long, the time with his family clearly led to him coming back revitalized and Royval enjoyed seeing that from him.

The result seemingly worked out in favor of “Raw Dawg” who could have found himself waiting behind Albazi in line for a title shot if he had got his hand raised given his winning streak in the division.

In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Royval said though he’s happy Moreno won because of the impact it has on his standing in the current title picture, he was excited to see his former foe looking dialled in and on point in Canada.

“I thought he looked sick bro, I had such a good time watching him. I liked the look in his eye when he walked out like the moment he walked out, I was like alright cool, this is what I want to see. It was like a p***** off Brandon Moreno ready to go and he fought with the f****** attitude and a chip on his shoulder and I love that, I love to see that.”

Continue Reading Former Opponent Says He Massively Enjoyed Watching Brandon Moreno’s Bounce Back Win: ‘This Is What I Want To See’ at MMA News.

Brandon Royval Explains How Pantoja Title Fight Announcement Aided Him vs. Taira

Brandon Royval came into his recent fight against Tatsuro Taira in a bit of a difficult position regarding the flyweight title picture. The former title challenger has already beaten many of the top contenders but hadn’t been able to defeat the current champion, Alexandre Pantoja. This led to some confusion regarding the stakes of his […]

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Brandon Royval came into his recent fight against Tatsuro Taira in a bit of a difficult position regarding the flyweight title picture. The former title challenger has already beaten many of the top contenders but hadn’t been able to defeat the current champion, Alexandre Pantoja.

This led to some confusion regarding the stakes of his main event clash with Taira. Whilst a win for the rising Japanese contender could have earned him a title shot, that wasn’t necessarily the same case for Royval.

The idea of either man being next to challenge Pantoja was dispelled on the day of the fight when it was announced that recent signing Kai Asakura will face the champion on his UFC debut in December.

Royval has already said that the former RIZIN fighter getting the title shot straight off the bat doesn’t bother him because a reshuffle of the division suits him well. He also told Ariel Helwani in a recent interview that this announcement didn’t negatively impact him when it happened on the day he was fighting.

“Raw Dawg” said that he already knew this fight would be next so it actually helped give him something to aim for going into what ended up being a great fight against Taira that he won via split decision.

The next title fight coming together gave him a clearer sense of direction so that he could focus on securing the win and moving on to face the winner of Pantoja and Asakura.

“I knew about that a long time ago. It just gave me a way to aim, you know what I’m saying, and that’s what I wanted. I wanted a direction to go because I’m like, ‘F***, I’m about call out three, four different people, but now that it’s, okay, there’s a title shot. Okay, I got the winner’, and it’s like, I think whoever the winner is, there are certain advantages either way. It’s just like I could go fight in Brazil or I could go fight in Japan and I think if Asakura wins, a fight in Japan would be almost a mandatory I think.”

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Tatsuro Taira Issues First Statement After UFC Fight Night Loss To Brandon Royval

Tatsuro Taira has released his first statement on social media after suffering the first loss of his career in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event. After winning his first six outings on mixed martial arts’ biggest stage, Taira had the opportunity to impress opposite the #1-ranked contender at 125 pounds on Saturday night inside the […]

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Tatsuro Taira has released his first statement on social media after suffering the first loss of his career in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event.

After winning his first six outings on mixed martial arts’ biggest stage, Taira had the opportunity to impress opposite the #1-ranked contender at 125 pounds on Saturday night inside the Apex.

And although he exited the cage with a defeat added to his previously perfect record, the rising Japanese star certainly made a splash in his sophomore experience in the headline spotlight.

Taira Keeps Eyes On Ultimate Prize After First UFC Setback

Taira played his part in one of the best main events and fights seen under the UFC banner in 2024, going toe-to-toe with Brandon Royval across 25 minutes in Las Vegas.

The Japanese 24-year-old earned the nod on one of the judges’ scorecards, but he ultimately fell on the wrong side of a split decision verdict.

Nevertheless, Taira’s stock didn’t appear to fall with the result, which came after he had overcome notable adversity in round three to avoid being finished.

And moving forward, the loss has seemingly done little to affect the Okinawa native’s drive to reach the top. In fact, he appears more eager to achieve title glory in the UFC than ever.

“Thank you so much for all your support. I’m also grateful to my team for coming to the U.S. and supporting me,” Taira wrote on X (translated from Japanese). “Even though I was overcome with emotion after losing, I felt a strong desire to become UFC champion and give back to everyone, even if just a little. I will look forward and come back stronger.”

While Taira looks ahead to his chance to quickly return to winning ways next time out, gold is no doubt on the mind of Royval.

“Raw Dawg” has now won back-to-back main events against top-five opposition since falling short against Alexandre Pantoja in his first title shot last December. He’ll now have a close eye on “The Cannibal’s” upcoming defense opposite newcomer Kai Asakura.

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‘New Mythical Fighter: Round 5 Royval’ – Fans & Fighters React As Brandon Royval Edges Out Tatsuro Taira In Crazy UFC Fight Night Main Event

A highly anticipated UFC Fight Night main event between Brandon Royval and Tatsuro Taira lived up to the hype and then some. And after five rounds of back-and-forth, hard-fought action, Royval ultimately came out on top in a split decision. Royval appeared to be getting the better of Taira through most of the first round, […]

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A highly anticipated UFC Fight Night main event between Brandon Royval and Tatsuro Taira lived up to the hype and then some. And after five rounds of back-and-forth, hard-fought action, Royval ultimately came out on top in a split decision.

Royval appeared to be getting the better of Taira through most of the first round, landing shots that snapped Taira’s head back. The Japanese fighter, however, appeared to possibly stun the former title challenger late in the round and scored a takedown before its conclusion.

Taira got back to work in the second round, scoring a takedown early and looking for multiple submission attempts from the back. Royval defended well, but Taira maintained a body triangle and twisted “Raw Dawg” and his limbs on more than one occasion.

Royval, however, got control back by tagging Taira with a number of hard shots, which had referee Jason Herzog looking close to intervening for the TKO stoppage. The #1-ranked contender went to the ground with Taira and looked for an armbar. However, Taira got out of it and got right back to Royval’s back, looking for a rear-naked choke in the round’s closing seconds.

Taira brought the fight back to the ground and was in control for nearly the whole of the fourth stanza, riding in top position and working Royval over with his grappling. This led to a suspenseful and highly anticipated final round.

Royval was getting the better of Taira on the feet, but the latter brought the fight back to the mat. “Raw Dawg,” however, worked his way back to the feet and landed some strong shots. Royval then went for a guillotine and several other submission attempts, staying in control on the ground until the final horn.

Royval Wins Competitive, Entertaining Flyweight Main Event vs. Taira, Ends Taira’s Undefeated Record

Royval has now won five of his last six fights, with his sole loss in that span coming from an unsuccessful challenge of flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 296 last December

Meanwhile, the loss marks the first of Taira’s professional career after starting his Octagon tenure at 6-0.

Continue Reading ‘New Mythical Fighter: Round 5 Royval’ – Fans & Fighters React As Brandon Royval Edges Out Tatsuro Taira In Crazy UFC Fight Night Main Event at MMA News.

Brandon Royval Sees “Strong Possibility” UFC Newcomer Could Beat Alexandre Pantoja

Brandon Royval is set to return this weekend at the UFC Apex where he faces the undefeated Tatsuro Taira in the main event. Even after beating Brandon Moreno last time out to cement his status as the #1-ranked flyweight in the division, handing Taira his first win may not be enough for him to secure […]

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Brandon Royval is set to return this weekend at the UFC Apex where he faces the undefeated Tatsuro Taira in the main event.

Even after beating Brandon Moreno last time out to cement his status as the #1-ranked flyweight in the division, handing Taira his first win may not be enough for him to secure a second title shot.

“Raw Dog” has already suffered two defeats to the current champion, Alexandre Pantoja, which makes it significantly harder to put him straight back in.

Royval spoke in a recent interview with Inside Fighting about how the talk of who will be Pantoja’s next challenger has been pretty quiet.

After he faced a surprising opponent in Steve Erceg last time out, it would have likely been Muhammad Mokaev as the next in line if he was still with the promotion.

Royval, however, believes that it could be a new arrival into the division that is next for the champ.

Brandon Royval Says That Kai Asakura Could Be The Man To Beat Alexandre Pantoja

Earlier this year in June, the UFC was announced to have signed RIZIN bantamweight champion Kai Asakura.

The 30-year old Japanese star has got a huge fan following back in his native country and by all accounts, would be jumping in at the deep end once he arrived inside the Octagon.

Royval took this as him facing Pantoja down at 125-pounds, as he told Inside Fighting.

“I mean I thought it was Kai Asakura. I thought that was who the next fight would be and I was like, if I win this fight, I’m just gonna call out Pantoja or Asakura. But I mean I’ve still never heard anything so maybe it’s like I’m just starting these rumours myself.”

Royval was also asked how he would feel about someone new entering the promotion and jumping right into a title shot.

His response was that someone new being the champion would help his case for another title shot and in his opinion, Asakura would have a good chance of beating Pantoja.

“Oh I don’t give a s***, as long as it doesn’t affect my road, it would be dope if he wins because if he wins, I for sure get the next title shot. In my opinion, I don’t really care. I just try to get in there when I fit in there so I think if he wins and beats Alexandre Pantoja, which I think is a strong possibility, then I could go fight Kai Asakura.” 

Read also: Leon Edwards’ Brother On Loss To Belal Muhammad: ‘Always Had Unfair Situations Given To Him!’

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Video – UFC flyweight standout Brandon Royval drug tested while at a restaurant

Video - UFC flyweight standout Brandon Royval drug tested while he was at a restaurantNo. 1 ranked flyweight contender Brandon Royval couldn’t even sit down to eat without having to give a urine…

Video - UFC flyweight standout Brandon Royval drug tested while he was at a restaurant

No. 1 ranked flyweight contender Brandon Royval couldn’t even sit down to eat without having to give a urine sample.

‘Raw Dawg’ recently revealed on his Instagram stories that a representative with DFSI (Drug Free Sport International) interrupted his meal at a local restaurant to complete one of the promotion’s no-notice drug tests.

“LOL they really drug testing me everywhere,” Royval captioned the video.

After eight years, the UFC ended its partnership with the United States Anti-Doping Agency in favor of an in-house system. Today, DFSI handles sample collection while the actual sample testing goes through SMRTL (Sports Medicine Research & Testing Laboratory), considered by many in the industry to be the top anti-doping testing laboratory in the world.

Brandon Royval’s latest win forces the UFC to think outside the box for its next flyweight title challenger

Coming up short against reigning flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 296 last year, Brandon Royval bounced back last month, scoring a big split decision victory over former titleholder Brandon Moreno on short notice. The win solidified his spot at the top of the 125-pound rankings.

Brandon Royval vs. Brandon Moreno

His win also put the promotion in a bit of a pickle when it came to booking Pantoja’s next title fight.

As a result, Steve Erceg, who is coming off just his third win inside the Octagon, will challenge ‘The Cannibal’ in the UFC 301 headliner on Saturday, May 4 in Rio de Janeiro.

Pantoja vs. Erceg