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.