Brandon Royval waited nearly four years but he finally get his revenge with a hard-fought split decision win over Brandon Moreno in in the UFC Mexico City main event.
Their first fight ended with Moreno scoring a TKO after Royval suffered an injury but following a disappointing outing in a title fight back in January, “Raw Dog” had a lot to prove on Saturday night. As a lifelong fan of Nate and Nick Diaz, Royval employed a similar game plan as the UFC veterans as he showcased incredible output, volume striking and a relentless pace to keep Moreno off balance throughout the fight. Royval may have lost a couple of the early rounds but he just stayed in Moreno’s face throwing more than 400 strikes during the five round affair.
When the final scorecards were tallied, two judges gave Royval the win with 48-47 scores with the third official going 49-46 for Moreno. That was still more than enough for Royval to get the nod as he returns to the win column and gets a much more satisfying conclusion in his second fight with Moreno.
Following the win, Royval once again channeled the Diaz brothers and sent an emphatic message to UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja, who was sitting a few feet away watching the action unfold.
“I’m a f****** gangster,” Royval shouted. “I’m the realest one in this f****** flyweight division. Everybody wants to grab me all day. Speaking of grabbing, I hear Pantoja’s in the building, let’s run that s*** back motherf*****.”
There was a lot of caution from both sides with Royval acting as the aggressor and Moreno reacting as the counter fighter in nearly every exchange. Royval connected well with a good lead jab but he struggled to really land any power punches.
On the other side, Moreno used speed and footwork to dip down and unload his biggest shots including a stiff right hand that continued to find a home on Royval’s chin. Royval was also dealing with a foot injury that seemed to prevent him from unloading many kicks, although he was still in Moreno’s face throughout the fight.
Because Moreno spent so much time reacting to what Royval was throwing at him, the Colorado native displayed much better output and volume. Royval stayed in Moreno’s face and just peppered away at him without overextending to leave himself open for a big punch in return.
As the fight moved into the fourth round, Moreno found a combination that began working with a big right hook followed by a stiff leg kick behind it. That led to more aggression from Royval including a hard punch that snapped Moreno’s head back before snatching a takedown against the cage.
With urging from his head coach in the corner, Moreno started putting more pressure in the fifth and final round and he popped Royval in the eye right out of the gate with a well-timed punch. Moreno then slowed the action with a takedown attempt but the flyweights ended up clinched against the cage, which forced the referee to break them apart and restart in the center.
From there, Royval was just constantly in Moreno’s face with a right jab and a hard left behind it as his death by a thousand cuts strategy continued to chip away at the former champion.
With a minute remaining, Moreno started emptying the tank but Royval kept firing right back at him. There was no slowing down with a wild flurry from both fighters until the final horn sounded.
While Royval’s accuracy wasn’t necessarily on point throughout, his non-stop attacks rarely gave Moreno the chance to surge ahead, especially during the final 15 minutes of the fight. It may not have been the highlight reel finish he wanted but Royval got the win, which is ultimately all that matters.
The victory puts Royval right back in the race for the flyweight title, although with two losses to Pantoja it’s unknown if he’ll get another shot at the champion right away. As for Moreno, he’s now suffered back-to-back losses for the first time since 2017 and 2018, which came just before his release from the UFC.