Brandon Royval holds his ground at flyweight after thriller over Tatsuro Taira

A couple weeks before the flyweights will close the show in Edmonton, two of the division’s best did battle in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night event, as Brandon Royval and Tatsuro Taira battled back-and-forth for 25 minutes to wrap up an entertaining evening of action at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.

The five-round affair was full of twists and turns, as momentum shifted from one fighter to the other with each passing round: Royval opening well before Taira turned to his grappling to dominate the second, only for the recent title challenger to rally and batter the unbeaten Japanese standout on the feet for much of the third before Taira once again dragged the action to the canvas, threatening with a rear-naked choke as time expired.

After Taira spent the duration of the fourth round on Royval’s back to seemingly draw level and hit the final round on a high, the veteran was once more able to get loose with his hands and get the better of things, closing out the final round and salting away the victory by controlling the action on the canvas, from back mount through to the horn.

All three judges scored the fight 48-47, with two of the three officials seeing the fight in favour of Royval, who picked up his second win of the year after closing out 2023 with a lopsided decision loss to Alexandre Pantoja in a championship clash at UFC 296.

Following the contest, Royval volunteered his services as the backup for any of the upcoming, high-profile flyweight pairings, including the five-round bout between Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi stationed atop the marquee in Edmonton early next month, adding that if nothing materializes there, he believes he’s done enough to merit another crack at the title next time out.

While he certainly reiterated that he’s one of the best in the division by edging out Moreno earlier this year and bouncing Taira from the ranks of the unbeaten on Saturday, business is picking up in the 125-pound weight class at the moment and there are a number of possible ways things could go once all is said and done in 2024.

The winner of the bout between Moreno and Albazi at Rogers Place on Nov. 2nd will certainly be in the running, especially should Albazi claim a victory over the former two-time champion to move to 6-0 in the UFC. The case for Moreno will be a little tougher given that he’s dropped three fights to Pantoja already — one was on The Ultimate Fighter — and was on the sour side of the split decision verdict opposite Royval in February, but a dominant effort combined with his established star power could make things interesting, especially if there is a changing of the guard at the top of the division.

UFC CEO Dana White took to social media on Saturday before the fights to announce the twin title fights that will take place at UFC 310 in December, with Pantoja defending his title against promotional newcomer Kai Asakura in the co-main event. The incoming Japanese challenger is 30 years old and has been one of the top stars in the Rizin Fighting Federation for the last several years, posting victories over established talents including Manel Kape, Kyoji Horiguchi, and Juan Archuleta while amassing a 21-4 record overall.

Between Saturday’s headlining act in Las Vegas, the main event in Edmonton, and Pantoja’s clash with Asakura to close out the year, we should hit the final days of 2024 with a clear picture of how the top of the division will get matched up in the opening half of the new year.

The collection of key bouts all taking place in a cluster like this provides ample opportunity for those stationed outside of the top five at the moment to continue jockeying for position in the divisional pecking order as well, while the long-range forecast for the weight class has never looked brighter as more and more promising talent continues to flood the ranks from the Contender Series and additional talent-search series.

But Saturday night belonged to Royval, who now stands as the clubhouse leader in the chase for the next championship opportunity in the burgeoning flyweight division.

DAWSON DOMINATES

No one likes to lose, but Grant Dawson will probably be the first to admit that his loss to Bobby Green one year ago was one of the best things to happen to him.

The 30-year-old American Top Team representative collected his second straight win since that meeting, blowing through Rafa Garcia in just under seven minutes to advance to 10-1-1 in the UFC. As soon as Dawson got this fight to the canvas, Garcia had no outs, getting pinned to the mat and worked over from top position for much of the first before Dawson upped the intensity and secured the finish before the two-minute mark of the second round.

A highly regarded prospect during his regional days and through his win on the first season of the Contender Series, Dawson has made significant gains since shifting his training to South Florida. Green caught him early in their main event pairing last October, finishing him in 33 seconds, but it’s the kind of setback that often proves to be massive teachable moment for an emerging fighter like Dawson.

In his two fights since, that seems to have been the case, as he cruised to a unanimous decision win over Joe Solecki last time out and ratcheted things up even more on Saturday. Pushing forward in the lightweight ranks is always difficult, but after a tremendous effort here, Dawson should get another chance to compete against a top-15 opponent in the not too distant future.

PRELIMINARY CARD TAKEAWAYS

While the flyweights headlined Saturday’s fight card, a pair of neophytes in the 125-pound weight class showed out in the first and final bouts of the prelims.

Newcomer Ramazan Temirov stopped DWCS alum CJ Vergara with a gnarly body shot along the fence less than three minutes into the opening round of the final preliminary card bout of the day. The 26-year-old from Uzbekistan showed a ton of aggression and power, hurting Vergara on multiple occasions before changing up the target and folding him over to register his 10th consecutive victory and fifth straight first-round stoppage win.

In the opener, Clayton Carpenter ended a 20-month absence by registering a second-round technical submission win over Lucas Rocha to move to 2-0 in the UFC and 8-0 overall. The MMA Lab product wisely took the fight to the canvas in each round, splitting Rocha open with elbows in the first before working to the back and putting him to sleep in the second.

Along with this week’s activity, there is much more on tap in the 125-pound weight class. While the flyweight division has always been entertaining, the depth and overall level of talent in the division has been steadily increasing over the last couple years, and the end of 2024 should showcase that even further.

Temirov wasn’t the only debuting fighter to turn in a quality effort, as recent Contender Series grad Cody Haddon returned to the APEX and picked up a hard-fought, unanimous decision win over Dan Argueta early in the day. Another member of the impressive collection of UFC talent from Perth, Australia, Haddon out-worked Argueta from the outset, doing a good job to stifle the majority of his takedown attempts and showcase his striking.

Though he couldn’t get the finish, Haddon was clearly the better fighter throughout, and looks like someone to pay close attention to going forward. He earned his contract at the end of the summer, so to turn right back around and dominate Arguata in a fight contested at a rugged pace speaks volumes about the upside the 26-year-old possesses.

The other four preliminary card fights offered a pair of decisions and a pair of finishes. Heavyweight Junior Tafa stopped short-notice replacement Sean Sharaf, returning featherweight Pat Sabatini submitted Jonathan Pearce, while both Julia Polastri and Themba Gorimbo picked up victories on the scorecards to round out the action on the early slate.