At the UFC 304 weigh-in show last Friday, the promotion let slip during the broadcast that Brandon Royval (16-7) and Tatsuro Taira (16-0) were going to collide in the future. On Thursday, both Royval and MMA Junkie confirmed that this contest would serve as the main event for the UFC Fight Night card on Oct. 12. The flyweights will come to blows at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, with Royval expecting the fight to be “most likely a title eliminator,” while remarking that he had planned on facing Amir Albazi instead.
Royval bounced back from a championship defeat to Alexandre Pantoja in December by outhustling Brandon Moreno in February. Royval picked up a close split decision, avenging a contentious last-second knockout loss to the former champ in 2020. Before falling short to Pantoja, Royval rattled off a decision over Rogerio Bontorin followed by first-round finishes over Matt Schnell and Matheus Nicolau to earn his crack at gold.
Japan’s Taira has not suffered a loss as a professional, with the 24-year-old prevailing in all six of his Octagon encounters to date. Taira introduced himself in 2022 by snagging a decision over Carlos Candelario, and within the next year he tapped C.J. Vergara and Jesus Santos Aguilar to put himself on the flyweight radar. A pair of knockouts over Carlos Hernandez and Alex Perez—the latter due to an injury—set the youngster on a path towards the belt.
The currently unnumbered UFC Fight Night card on Oct. 12 will be held at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Royval vs. Taira joins recently announced matchups of Cory McKenna vs. Polyana Viana at strawweight and a rebooked middleweight affair of Brad Tavares vs. Jun Yong Park. Other matches up the lineup include a bantamweight battle pitting Cody Garbrandt against Miles Johns and a middleweight contest as Abdul Razak Alhassan faces Josh Fremd.
Reference: https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Brandon-Royval-Tatsuro-Taira-to-Headline-Oct-12-UFC-Fight-Night-Event-194509
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