Brandon Royval edges Rogerio Bontorin on the scorecards at UFC Vegas 46
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, January 15, 2022 for the first time in a month for UFC Vegas 46, headlined by top featherweight contenders Calvin Kattar and Giga Chikadze.
Kattar, who comes in ranked at No. 5, hasn’t fought since his defeat to Max Holloway at the beginning of last year in January, while Chikadze, who comes in ranked at No. 8, went 2-0 last year, securing knockout victories over Cub Swanson and Edson Barboza.
We had a pair of ranked flyweights in the feature bout of the evening as well, as No. 5 ranked Brandon Royval faced No. 7 ranked Rogerio Bontorin. Continue reading to see how this bout went down:
Official Result: Brandon Royval def. Rogerio Bontorin via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Round 1
Royval comes out feinting heavily, trying to bait Bontorin inward, while controlling the center of the octagon.
Royval lets go of some strikes, before Bontorin grabs him with double underhooks and takes him down. It becomes a scramble before the two return to their feet.
Bontorin secures another takedown and ends the round on top.
Round 2
Royval shows a lot of volume early on until he’s taken down again. He scrambles his way back up, but his ankle gives out as he’s hit in an exchange. Royval’s right back up to his feet, but by then Bontorin was right in his face, awaiting a couple punches followed by another takedown shot.
It appears there is a clear strength differential here.
Bontorin is the much stronger party, and he’s the better wrestler of the two. However, the striking is nearly all Royval aside from some overhand returns here and there from Bontorin.
Round 3
Royval goes to work in this third and final round.
First comes his wide array of strikes, before he’s taken down again. He’s been going for an omoplata all night, but turns in into a gogoplata that looked good, but he releases it. Royval then locks up an armbar, and Bontorin appeared to have tapped, but the fight continues.
Royval finishes out the fight on top of Bontorin pounding away with vicious elbows that nearly finished him.
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