Brandon Royval Hands Tatsuro Taira First-Ever Loss In Tough Headliner

Former undisputed flyweight contender, Brandon Royval has likely retained his status as number one contender in the official 125lbs rankings tonight — handing Japanese sensation, Tatsuro Taira a close split decision loss in their UFC Vegas 98 headliner.

Royval, who entered tonight’s pairing with the unbeaten Taira as the current number one ranked contender, returned to action tonight following a prior split decision win over former champion, Brandon Moreno in the main event of UFC Fight Night Mexico City earlier this year.

And firing back-and-forth with surging Japanese prospect, Taira in their headliner tonight at the Apex facility, Brandon Royval suffered a loss in the opening round according to one judge — with the two other judges handing the Colorado contender the opening frame, en route to his split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) victory.

With the hard-fought victory, Royval offered to serve as the backup to Moreno’s showdown with Amir Albazi in Canada later this quarter, before claiming he would travel to Brazil to take on incumbent champion, Alexandre Pantoja in another title re-run, or either make the trip to Japan to take on Kai Asakura, who today booked a title fight in his debut outing at UFC 310.

Below, catch the highlights from Brandon Royval’s win over Tatsuro Taira