Alexandre Pantoja makes first defense of flyweight title in rematch with Brandon Royval at UFC 296
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, December 16, 2023, for UFC 296, the final event of the year going down live from the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
Headlining the event is a welterweight title bout between UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards (21-3) and no. 3 ranked former interim champion Colby Covington (17-3).
Co-headlining the event is also a title bout, this one coming at 125 lbs between UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja (27-5) and no. 2 ranked Brandon Royval (15-7).
Pantoja came into the bout aiming to make the first defense of his newly claimed title in a rematch with Royval, who he submitted in their first encounter back in August of 2021, becoming the first man to do so.
Pantoja came into tonight’s co-main event on a four-fight win streak, having gone 10-3 in his 13-fight promotional tenure, while Royval had won three-straight in emphatic fashion since losing to the champion, improving his promotional record to 5-2.
Each of these men were also champions upon arriving to the UFC, Pantoja having captured the RFA and AXS TV flyweight championships in his two bouts prior to coming over, and Royval coming over as the LFA flyweight champion about three years later.
Continue reading to see how this flyweight championship encounter went down:
Official Result: Alexandre Pantoja def. Brandon Royval via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 49-46)
Pantoja opens up the bout with a furious pace, first throwing two right hands before landing a number of leg and body kicks through the first two or so minutes. Royval does a good job of stuffing Pantoja’s first two takedown attempts, but is taken down the third time and dominated on the mat.
Round two is quite similar to the first; both men opening up with a lot of tenacity and Pantoja out-wrestling and out-grappling Royval, much of the round being spent with the champion in Royval’s half guard.
Pantoja secures another early takedown in round three and threatens an arm-triangle choke he comes close to finishing. Royval escapes by giving up his back and shaking Pantoja off, though he’s unable to remain on top as Pantoja refuses to accept bottom position.
Royval’s striking starts to come alive in the second half of the third, landing a lot of long punches and a couple slick knees up the middle.
No more than 10 seconds into round four and Royval is on his back again, spending four-plus minutes in a disadvantageous position. He does however reverse the position and reign down some heavy punches in the final 30 seconds of the round.
Royval tags up a fatigued Pantoja through the first half of the fifth and final round, looking sharp in the process. He was however taken down yet again, remaining on his back for the final two-plus minutes of the fight.
This was certainly a better, more evolved version of Brandon Royval we saw tonight; he didn’t get stopped by him this time and put up a great fight. Alexandre Pantoja on the other hand impresses in his first title defense tonight at UFC 296.
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