Brandon Royval and Tatsuro Taira put on a show in the UFC Vegas 98 main event, and the flyweight contenders were compensated appropriately for their efforts.
Royval and Taira received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their back-and-forth battle at the UFC Apex on Saturday night. Royval was able to survive his opponent’s grappling and imposed his will during striking exchanges to emerge with a split-decision triumph in what will likely go down as one of the year’s best bouts.
Elsewhere, Octagon newcomer Ramazonbek Temirov made strong first impression, flooring C.J. Vergara three times en route to a technical knockout at the 2:50 mark of Round 1 in their flyweight pairing. That was more than enough to secure a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for the Uzbekistan native.
Finally, Clayton Carpenter claimed the evening’s other $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award thanks to a second-round submission of Lucas Rocha in a preliminary flyweight encounter. The MMA Lab product secured a takedown early in Round 2, moved to his opponent’s back and locked in the fight-ending rear-naked choke at the 2:12 mark of the period.
