UFC Vegas 98: Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira: Full Results
UFC Vegas 98 is in the books. The event took place on Oct. 12 at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, and featured 12 fights in nine weight classes. This article recaps the event and explores full event results.
In the main event, No. 1-ranked flyweight contender and former title challenger Brandon Royval took on No. 5-ranked Tatsuro Taira. Heading into the fight, Royval was coming off a hard-fought split decision victory over former two-time champion Brandon Moreno. He lost to champion Alexandre Pantoja in a closely contested title fight before that.
Meanwhile, Japan's Taira had defeated all six of his previous UFC opponents in impressive fashion. Heading into UFC Vegas 98, the undefeated fighter hoped to score the biggest win of his career and fast-track his way into the top three of the division.
In the fight, both men started on a cautious note and got away with a few good strikes in Round 1. Royval, who offered stiff resistance to grapplers like Pantoja in the past, had little to offer the Japanese fighter after getting taken down early in Round 2. Taira controlled Royval on the ground for the majority of Round 2 and appeared to be cruising to a dominant victory.
However, Royval gave a strong response with his striking prowess in Round 3 and came dangerously close to finishing Taira several times in the round. But he continued to struggle against Taira's relentless grappling. The 24-year-old transitioned between back-take and full mount with relative ease, constantly threatening with submission attempts to keep Royval committed to defense.
However, Royval made adjustments in the final round and denied takedowns while securing a few of his own. He finished the fight in a dominant position, earning a split decision victory.
In the co-main event, middleweight fighters Brad Tavares and Park Jun-yong fought in an attempt to get back in the win column. Tavares was 1-3 in his last four outings. He was coming off a third-round TKO defeat against Gregory Rodriguez in February while Jun-yong suffered a split decision loss against Andre Muniz in December 2023.
In the fight, Tavares was off to a better start and appeared to be leading the scorecards by the end of Round 1. However, Jun-yong made the fight competitive in the second and third rounds to secure a close split decision win.
UFC Vegas 98 main card results
Welterweight contenders Chidi Njokuani and Jared Gooden faced each other on the UFC Vegas 98 main card. Gooden's striking arsenal did not hold up against Njokuani's formidable Muay Thai skill set.
After battering Gooden with a variety of attacks for the majority of the first two rounds, Njoukani finished strong in the third as well and took home a unanimous decision victory. This was Njokuani's second straight win since dropping to welterweight.
Lightweight contender Grant Dawson returned to action against Rafa Garcia. After Bobby Green snapped his 10-fight unbeaten streak in October 2023, Dawson got the momentum back on his side with a unanimous decision win over Joe Solecki at UFC 302. Garcia, who put his two-fight win streak on the line, was coming off a unanimous decision win over veteran fighter Clay Guida.
In the fight, Dawson took his time to open up and spent Round 1 trying to establish control after taking Garcia down. He took a more aggressive posture in the second round and secured a takedown early. Dawson rained down strikes on the bloodied and busted Garcia until the referee stepped in to stop the contest.
The main card opening bout saw welterweight contenders Daniel Rodriguez and Alex Morono engage in a three-round slugfest. Rodriguez displayed superior striking and grappling and cruised to a split decision victory.
UFC Vegas 98 preliminary card results
In the preliminary card headlining bout, Ramzonbek Temirov defeated CJ Vergara by TKO in the opening round. Vergara retreated to the cage after a left hook from Temirov appeared to have stunned him. The Uzbek fighter wasted no time and swarmed Vergara with shots to the body until he went down to the canvas, prompting the referee to stop the fight.
Heavyweight fighter Junior Tafa got back in the win column with a first-round TKO of Sean Sharaf on the UFC Vegas 98 preliminary card.
Pat Sabatini and Clayton Carpenter secured submission wins due to rear naked choke over Jonathan Pearce and Lucas Rocha, respectively.
Elsewhere, Themba Gorimbo and Cody Haddon earned convincing unanimous decision wins over Niko Price and Dan Argueta, respectively, winning all three rounds on the judges' scorecards.
In the only female fight of the event, Julia Polastri edged past Cory McKenna with a split decision win.
Check out the full UFC Vegas 98 results below:
Main card
Flyweight - Brandon Royval def. Tatsuro Taira by split decision (48-47 X 2, 47-28)
Middleweight - Park Jun-yong def. Brad Tavares by split decision (29-28 X 2, 28-29)
Welterweight - Chidi Njokuani def. Jared Gooden by unanimous decision (30-27 X 3)
Lightweight - Grant Dawson def. Rafa Garcia By T/KO (R2, 1:42)
Welterweight - Daniel Rodriguez def. Alex Morono by split decision (29-28 X 2, 28-29)
Preliminary card
Flyweight - Ramzonbek Temirov def. CJ Vergara by T/KO (R1, 2:50)
Featherweight - Pat Sabatini def. Jonathan Pearce by submission (Rear-naked choke) (R1, 4:06)
Welterweight - Themba Gorimbo def. Niko Price by unanimous decision (30-27 X 3)
Heavyweight - Junior Tafa def. Sean Sharaf by T/KO (R2, 2:15)
Strawweight - Julia Polastri def. Cory McKenna by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
Bantamweight - Cody Haddon def. Dan Argueta by unanimous decision (30-27 X 3)
Flyweight - Clayton Carpenter def. Lucas Rocha by submission (Rear-naked choke) (R2, 2:12)