Brandon Royval Outpaces Brandon Moreno in UFC Fight Night 237 Headliner

Brandon Royval now has a signature victory to which he can point in the Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight division.

Rapid-fire combinations and sheer volume carried the Factory X export to a split decision over two-time champion Brandon Moreno, as their rematch headlined UFC Fight Night 237 on Saturday at Arena CDMX on Saturday in Mexico City. Judge Junichiro Kamijo saw it 49-46 for Moreno, while Michael Bell and Chris Lee scored it 48-47 for Royval.

A tepid first round gave way to a series of momentum shifts over the ensuing 20 minutes. Moreno (21-8-2, 9-5-2 UFC) connected with the more impactful blows—he punctuated many of his combinations with thudding leg kicks—but too often settled for one shot at a time. A short-notice substitution for Amir Albazi, Royval (16-7, 6-3 UFC) slowly but surely made his case, throwing three, four and sometimes five punches at a time. More often than not, he kept Moreno at bay with a pesky jab and multiple strikes behind hit. Moreno engaged the ex-Legacy Fighting Alliance champion in the clinch in the fifth round but failed to stay active enough to avoid restarts from referee Herb Dean. With that, his undoing was complete.

Royval, who evened his head-to-head series with “The Assassin Baby” at 1-1, has won four of his last five fights.

Meanwhile, former Resurrection Fighting Alliance champion Brian Ortega put away “The Ultimate Fighter Latin America” Season 1 winner Yair Rodriguez with an arm-triangle choke in the third round of their featherweight co-main event rematch. In his first appearance since a shoulder injury resulted in a technical knockout loss to “El Pantera” at UFC on ABC in July 2022, Ortega (16-3, 8-3 UFC) slammed the door 58 seconds into Round 3.

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Rodriguez (19-5, 10-4 UFC) nearly finished it on multiple occasions in the first round, where he sat down the Rener Gracie protégé with a left hook, followed up with punches and assaulted him with ferocious ground-and-pound. Ortega withstood the attack and even managed to mount his counterpart near the end of the period. He further turned the tide in his favor in Round 2, where he executed a takedown and opened a cut under Rodriguez’s right eye with an elbow strike from the top. Ortega never again took his foot off the gas. He bulled his way into the clinch in the third round, secured a trip takedown, climbed to mount and framed the arm-triangle choke. For Rodriguez, there was no escape.

The submission was Ortega’s first since he dispatched Cub Swanson with a guillotine choke at UFC Fight Night 123 on Dec. 9, 2017.

Further down the card, Xtreme Couture’s Daniel Zellhuber outstruck former Samurai Fight House champion Francisco Prado to a unanimous verdict in their three-round lightweight attraction. Zellhuber (15-1, 3-1 UFC) swept the scorecards with 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 marks from the cageside judges.

Prado (12-2, 1-2 UFC) crashed forward with hooks from both hands and heavy leg kicks in the first round but could not consistently navigate the eight-inch reach disadvantage with which he was presented. Zellhuber turned to his jab in the middle stanza, resulting in significant damage to his adversary’s nose and right eye. By the start of Round 3, vision had become an issue for Prado. Zellhuber continued to mark his territory with the jab, all while mixing in a front kick to the face, a few check hooks and an uppercut that nearly lifted the 21-year-old Argentinian off his feet.

Zellhuber, 24, has rattled off three straight victories.

Elsewhere, Entram Gym prospect Yazmin Jauregui rebounded from a 20-second technical knockout loss to Denise Gomes at UFC 290 in July with a one-sided unanimous decision over Sam Hughes in a three-round women’s strawweight feature. All three members of the cageside judiciary struck 30-27 scorecards for Jauregui (11-1, 3-1 UFC).

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Hughes (8-6, 3-5 UFC) was simply outgunned. Jauregui blasted the Fortis MMA rep with crisp combinations, a persistent jab and effective leg kicks. All the while, airtight takedown defense kept her upright and added to Hughes’ frustration. Jauregui circled on the outside, found the mark with two-, three- and four-punch combinations and piled up points as time ticked way. A cut across the bridge of Hughes’ provided the physical evidence of her opponent’s dominance.

The 31-year-old Hughes has lost two of her past three bouts.

Finally, explosive Dana White’s Contender Series graduate Manuel Torres disposed of American Top Team’s Chris Duncan with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their lightweight appetizer. Torres (15-2, 3-0 UFC) drew the curtain 1:46 into Round 1, extending his run of consecutive victories to six.

Duncan (11-2, 2-1 UFC) wobbled “El Loco” with a counter right hand during their opening exchange but chose to close the distance in pursuit of a takedown. Torres regained his bearings, threatened with a guillotine choke and eventually grounded the Scotsman twice. From there, he progressed to the back, snaked his arms in place for the choke and let his vice-like squeeze do the rest.

It was the 14th first-round finish of Torres’ career.

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