UFC 296 Results: Alexandre Pantoja vs Brandon Royval

The UFC 296 co-main event is in the books and Alexandre Pantoja defeated Brandon Royval via unanimous decision (50-45, 49-46, 49-46) to remain the undisputed UFC flyweight champion.

Both men made massive progress since their first fight which took place in 2021. However, Pantoja proved to be the better fighter on December 16.

Patoja and Royval showed tremendous confidence in their fighting abilities during the fight week and refused to talk trash against each other. The fight lived up to the claims as the flyweights came out guns blazing from the get-go.

Pantoja landed several kicks to the leg and the body and secured the first takedown a couple of minutes into the fight. He kept the underdog challenger on the canvas the entire round. The rest of the fight played out similarly.

Although Royval showed flashes of brilliance and offered resistance to the champion's relentless grappling and submission attacks, Pantoja never allowed the 32-year-old to enjoy consistent success.

The Brazilian seemed to be slowing down in the later half of the fight and Royval tried to pull off a finish. The American put up his best effort in the final round and battered the champion with high output. However, Alexandre Pantoja stole the round with a takedown, winning the fight on the scorecards. The win marks the first defense of his flyweight title reign.

Pantoja became the UFC flyweight champion by defeating Bradon Moreno in a back-and-forth contest at UFC 290. Meanwhile, Royval was riding a three-fight winning streak since losing to Alexandre Pantoja in their first fight that took place in August 2021.

The champion has no shortage of opponents in the foreseeable future. The flyweight division is stacked with elite competitors like Amir Albazi, Kai-Kara France, Matehusz Nicholas, and former champion Brandon Moreno working hard for the title shot. It will be interesting to see how things play out.