UFC 317 results: Joshua Van out-dogs Brandon Royval in elite flyweight thriller

Joshua Van has arrived.

If it wasn't already apparent that he's elite, Van (15-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) proved that Saturday at UFC 317 when he defeated Brandon Royval (17-8 MMA, 7-4 UFC) by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) in an elite flyweight featured fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Van's power and timing proved the difference. In Round 1, he out-timed Royval in the exchanges and appeared to land the more effective shots. Although Rovval came on strong in Round 3, Van dug deeped and out-dogged "Raw Dawg."

In the final moments of the bout, Van may have stole the fight on the judges' scorecards as he badly stunned and dropped Royval. Though the buzzer saved Royval, he was still wobbly when he got up the shake hands with Van after the horn.

The bout was one of the year's best by many accounts. Van and Royval showed off elite technical abilities, but also provided exciting levels of violence.

Prior to the bout, Dana White said the winner of the bout would be next for the winner of Saturday's co-main event between flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja and challenger Alexandre Pantoja.

Van, 23, made his amateur debut in December 2020 and his professional debut in October 2021. He's fought at incredible pacing with 17 fights as a professional in under four years. Since a knockout loss to Charles Johnson in July 2024, Van has won five-straight fights.

Royval, 32, entered UFC 317 off back-to-back wins over Brandon Moreno and Tatsuro Taira. The victories followed a title challenge loss to Alexandre Pantoja in December 2023.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 317 results:

• Joshua Van def. Brandon Royval via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Beneil Dariush def. Renato Moicano via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Payton Talbott def. Felipe Lima via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Gregory Rodrigues def. Jack Hermansson via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 4:21
• Jose Delgado def. Hyder Amil via knockout (knee and punches) – Round 1, 0:26
• Tracy Cortez def. Viviane Araujo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Terrance McKinney def. Viacheslav Borshchev via submission (mounted guillotine choke) – Round 1, 0:55
• Jacobe Smith def. Niko Price via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:03
• Jhonata Diniz def. Alvin Hines via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 317 results: Joshua Van out-dogs Brandon Royval in elite flyweight thriller