Joshua Van scored his second win in three weeks, defeating Brandon Royval in an absolute conflict at UFC 317.
It was a sluggish begin from Van as Royval stored him at bay early on with a mix of jabs and calf kicks. Earlier than lengthy, Van lastly began to search out his approach inside, tagging ‘Uncooked Dawg’ with a stiff proper hand. 90 seconds left within the opening spherical, Van caught Royval with a proper that took the previous title challenger off his toes.
Royval threw considerably extra strikes all through the primary, nevertheless it was Van who landed the extra substantial pictures.
Issues actually began to open up within the second spherical, with Royval touchdown at a considerably greater clip in comparison with the primary spherical. However for each strike that ‘Uncooked Dawg’ landed, Van had a solution. With 20 seconds to go, Van linked with a booming proper hand that stumbled Royval.
Undeterred, Royval got here proper again with a mix, solely to be met with one other proper from the Myanmar star.
With the combat probably tied up, Royval and Van stored their toes on the gasoline, delivering one of many extra memorable putting battles of 2025. Royval bit down on his mouthpiece as he closed the space, however ended up consuming a giant proper hand from Van. Royval flashed a smile as he obtained proper again to work.
Royval turns it up midway by means of the third, however Van lands a counter that backs up Royval, forcing him to take a second to reset. One other mixture from Van lands, however Royval refused to again down, connecting with a combo of his personal.
With 10 seconds, Van uncorked an enormous proper hand that despatched Royval crashing to the canvas. With timing working out, Van desperately rained down a slew of ground-and-pound strikes, however was unable to place away ‘Uncooked Dawg’ earlier than the ultimate horn.
Official Outcome: Joshua Van def. Brandon Royval through unanimous choice (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
