Joshua Van not only secured a potential title shot on Saturday night but he likely won a Fight of the Year after an absolute war with Brandon Royval at UFC 317.
After just fighting three weeks ago at UFC 317, Van returned to action on short notice and delivered a jaw-dropping performance over three rounds. The flyweights were both going for the kill but it was Van who continuously landed the bigger, more impactful strikes.
Late in the third round, Van uncorked a hellacious right hook that dropped Royval to the canvas and he nearly scored the finish just as time ran out. That was more than enough to get the job done with the judges scoring the fight 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 as the 23-year-old from Myanmar graduated from prospect to the No. 1 contender in the division.
“Bruno Silva fight I broke my toe. My right big toe, it was f*cked up,” Van revealed after his win. “We know Royval’s a tough guy. We knew we was in for a war. I wanted to get the finish. Like they say, the Diaz brothers never lost a fight, they just ran out of time so that’s what you see. We always know what we got, it’s just time to show the world. Fight of the Night?”
It really was an unreal performance from Van, especially with a massive step up in competition to be a proven veteran like Royval.
Using his reach and distance advantage, Royval was chipping away at Van with a long jab and a variety of kicks. When Royval finally got a little too aggressive, Van cracked him with a stiff left hand and then followed with a nasty straight right that landed clean.
Royval was flicking out his strikes while Van was connecting with thudding force behind almost every punch landed. A right hook from Van also started landing with regularity and Royval was struggling to avoid it.
As round two got started, Royval stayed aggressive and he landed his best punch with a straight left that popped Van with force. Royval then slammed him with a nasty left-right combination that definitely got Van’s attention.
Van welcomed the exchange as he fired right back at him but Royval was starting to do more damage with his power on the feet. Another straight left from Royval snapped Van’s head back as the flyweights were really starting to trade some powerful shots.
Just when it looked like Royval was gaining momentum, Van absolutely unloaded with a multi-punch combination that hammered the one-time title challenger.
With five minutes remaining, Royval mashed down on the gas as he just kept pumping out rapid-fire strikes and then Van unloading some huge punches in return. The volume attack from Royval continued but Van popped him with another staggering combination to back him off.
Royval kept moving forward but Van was ready to meet him as he really started to blast him with a stiff right hand and then he followed it with a nasty left hook. With 10 seconds left, the fighters just started unloading shots but it was Van who cracked Royval with the right hook that put him down on the ground.
A barrage on the ground from Van followed and when it was over, Royval seemingly thought he got stopped but he actually survived to the final horn. It was Van who got the nod, however, as he wins his fifth fight in a row and likely puts himself in a position to battle the winner of the UFC 317 co-main event between Alexandre Pantoja and Kai Kara-France.
“The winner of the title fight tonight, they gonna have to see me,” Van said. “Dana White, if you give me a chance to face off with them, I’m here.”
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