Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 15, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 15, 2023 (edited) Got the house to myself for a bit so revisiting the first Pantoja vs Royval fight ahead of the big rematch tomorrow night. It went down in the Summer of 2021 and was just the opening fight on the main card of an Apex show headlined by Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum. No real stakes to it. Pantoja was 23-5 and only one fight removed from a points defeat against Askar Askarov. He’d rebounded with a decision win over Manel Kape. And Royval was coming off that loss to Brandon Moreno in late 2020. Before that he’d gotten off to a blistering start in the UFC, with back-to-back submissions in FOTN winning performances over Tim Elliott and Kai Kara-France. Even the Moreno loss was a valiant effort and was partly the result of Royval suffering an injury. Of course, Moreno was these two guys’ common opponent and Pantoja had already beaten him twice. This was a fight where neither guy was really in the title mix at the time because we were smack bang in the thick of the Moreno vs Figgy series in 2021. But it was one of those matchups that you just knew was gonna be a fun one. I don’t really remember anything about the fight itself other than a very vague recollection that I enjoyed it. So I’ve been looking forward to giving it another watch. Alexandre Pantoja vs Brandon Royval UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs Gastelum August 21st 2021 Las Vegas, Nevada Bastard Apex. Commentators are Jon Anik, Paul Felder and Daniel Cormier. Weird seeing DC slumming it and working an Apex Fight Night, forgot that was a thing. Tale Of The Tape tells us Royval is 4 inches taller but they’re only half an inch apart in reach. Off we go then. ‘The Cannibal’ vs ‘Raw Dawg’. Yeah. Round 1: Pantoja pushing forward and pressuring right away, closing the distance. Royval tries to catch him coming in with a knee but it doesn’t work out and Pantoja’s got him down within the first 20 seconds of the fight. Definitely not the way Royval wanted to start this fight. Pantoja’s immediately working to take the back but Royval is constantly moving and making it difficult. Royval tries to roll through but Pantoja stays on him. Really entertaining grappling here because Royval is absolutely refusing to accept bottom position or let Pantoja fully get his back. They’re scrambling around and now Royval’s going for a leg lock. But Pantoja knows what he’s doing, doesn’t panic or instinctively try to pull away and leave his leg for the taking, and he works his way free. Good stuff from Pantoja there. A less experienced grappler would probably have been caught up in something nasty there. They’re up briefly but Pantoja hangs onto a waistlock and drags him back down. Again though, Royval just never stops moving and he manages to roll out of Pantoja’s grip and escape to his feet with just over a minute left on the clock. They exchange punches and Pantoja lands a few heavy right hands. Royval returns fire with some straight shots as the round comes to a close. And that’s that. That 5 minutes absolutely flew by! It’s a Pantoja 10-9 round for me but it was close and mega competitive. Pantoja’s control time and landing the bigger punches edged it for me but I could see giving this round to either man and it wouldn’t be outrageous. Really fun round. Round 2: Just like the first round, Pantoja comes right out and gets in Royval’s face straight away. He’s coming at him aggressively with punches that mostly miss but a hard body kick that lands. Pantoja with a bit of a sloppy takedown attempt that’s unsuccessful and leads to him taking some shots from Royval. But Pantoja’s soon on his back with the waistlock again. He kicks Royval’s legs from under him to drag him down and… It’s a wrap. As is the case more often than not, when Pantoja gets full back control like that, it’s pretty much a death sentence. Royval’s got nowhere to go and is forced to tap. Winner - Alexandre Pantoja by submission. Round 2 - 1:46. Highly entertaining, fast paced battle that. Typical Flyweight goodness. If you’ve never seen it, there are worse ways to spend 10 minutes. Post-fight interview is interesting because Brandon Moreno is cageside. He was the champ at the time and was fresh off submitting Figgy in their second fight. Pantoja throws out a respectful callout and Cormier even says it was “the nicest callout I’ve ever seen” 🤣 Obviously it went nowhere for 2 more years but he got there in the end. Yep. Once Moreno vs Figgy ran its course, Pantoja got his title shot against his old pal Moreno at UFC 290 in July. And they had what might just have been the FOTY. It’s either this or Makhachev vs Volkanovski 1 for me. And we’ve only got this 296 card left. As much as I’m a fan of Moreno and Figgy, I was really happy to see Pantoja lift the gold in July. He’s one of those fighters who’s grafted his way up and you always knew he was never necessarily the UFC’s ‘chosen one’ or someone they saw big things in. Always like to see a fighter like that get their moment. And I’m also pleased that Royval’s getting his opportunity here. After that Pantoja vs Moreno classic in July, there was a fair bit of talk of doing an immediate rematch. Dana seemed like he pretty much had his mind set on that. But I’m glad they’ve gone a different route. No doubt we’ll be seeing Pantoja and Moreno face off again at some point but it’s time to get some fresh faces in the title mix at Flyweight, it’s been time for that for a while. This’ll be the first Flyweight title fight since 2019 to not feature either Moreno or Figgy. Again, as much as I like those two, it’s quite refreshing. Yes! My thinking ever since this fight was announced is that Pantoja retains the strap, likely by submission again. I’m sticking with that but, rewatching this first fight back now, Royval was always threatening, he’s always game, he’s gonna be confident coming off some solid wins etc. I can certainly see a scenario where he lands something that changes the course of the fight. We’ve had bigger upsets. This year alone. But I just think Pantoja’s game trumps Royval’s more often than not. They can both grapple their arses off but Pantoja’s better there, Royval’s probably the better striker but Pantoja might hit harder so it kind of levels out, Pantoja’s got a hell of a chin on him as well. Royval’s got that unpredictability about him but it feels like that’s as likely to backfire on him as it is to benefit him against someone like Pantoja. Yeah, I reckon Pantoja subs him again. Royval gives up the back a lot in scrambles and, like we saw in this first fight, if you give Pantoja enough chances to take your back, he’s gonna make you pay at some point. Probably ends by rear naked choke again but should be great to watch for however long it lasts. And Royval’s enough of a threat everywhere that it’s gonna be edge of the seat viewing. Can’t wait. It’s crazy, even though it’s the co-main event and a title fight, this has been probably the least talked about fight on the main card before Luque vs Garry got binned and Emmett vs Bryce got the bump up. It was always gonna be massively overshadowed by Leon vs Colby but from what I saw it fell way behind Ferguson vs Paddy, Shavkat vs Wonderboy and Luque vs Garry in terms of discussion and hype. In reality, this is probably the best actual fight on the entire card but I get there aren’t as many talking points. Should be quality though. Edited December 16, 2023 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 15, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 15, 2023 Not feeling much about Pantoja/Royval, i know that's a mistake though, it'll likely end up being the FOTN. Might check out the Countdown segement for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 15, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 15, 2023 Can’t remember the last Countdown I watched. But if you weren’t hyped for Pantoja vs Royval 2 anyway, I’d imagine the Countdown won’t do much to change that. Neither really have the kind of personality that lends itself to that kind of thing, which is also probably a big part of the reason for the lack of buzz for that fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 15, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 15, 2023 Yeah, I always skip them but seeing a guy like Royval on there peaks my interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce85 Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 Been catching up on the press conference and am I the only one who found Paddy a lot less annoying this time? I thought Tony came across like a bit of a bell end. I might actually be rooting for Paddy in this one…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 16, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 16, 2023 Nothing’s gonna get me rooting for Paddy. One subdued press conference isn’t enough to cancel out years of being a complete and utter fucking knob. Probably just a bit quieter because he’s had to lay off the chippy teas and Mr Kiplings for a bit while he’s cutting weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 16, 2023 10 hours ago, Bruce85 said: Been catching up on the press conference and am I the only one who found Paddy a lot less annoying this time? Definitely more subdued. It feels like Paddy's snuck in the backdoor here. Post-Gordon and the whole Ariel Helwani thing, Paddy's stock was sinking fast. Feels like time, and being able to come in when others are taking the spotlight has helped him out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce85 Posted December 16, 2023 Share Posted December 16, 2023 3 hours ago, Egg Shen said: Definitely more subdued. It feels like Paddy's snuck in the backdoor here. Post-Gordon and the whole Ariel Helwani thing, Paddy's stock was sinking fast. Feels like time, and being able to come in when others are taking the spotlight has helped him out. Yeah definitely more subdued and I think you are right, having other big personalities around him has helped keep the spot light off him. I’m sure he’s aware his stock fell a bit after the Gordon fight and it might be best to keep it a bit more low key. Sure he will spout some nonsense if he wins! what are we feeling happens with Tony after this, surely a one sided loss sees him cut but if he wins or the fight is close I can see them letting him fight on. Really hyped for this now, my plans for this evening have been cancelled so I’m tempted to try and stay up to watch it live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 16, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 16, 2023 I think this has to be it for Tony if he loses. I think they’ve had this matchup in mind for Paddy pretty much since they signed him. Just because Ferguson is the biggest name easiest win for him on paper at this point. And the mad thing is, even knowing how fucked Ferguson is, I’m so unconvinced by Paddy that I’m still not massively confident he wins this fight. Most likely he does but the way he fights I just can’t be confident about it. But yeah, I think the main reason Ferguson is still on the roster at all after so many losses and looking so bad for as long as he has, is because they wanted to get this fight made first and get Paddy his ‘big win’. Tony will probably be getting his head caved in BKFC this time next year. But if Tony somehow wins tonight, and especially if he finishes Paddy, it’ll rank right up there for me with the night they tried to feed a fat Big Nog coming off hip surgery to Brendan Schaub, in Brazil, and Fat Nog sparked him in a round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted December 16, 2023 Share Posted December 16, 2023 I'm still surprised Paddy is on this card to be honest. I assumed the UFC had him pegged as a "UK attraction" much like Molly McCann. Stick him on the UK card twice per year against someone he should beat, and he gets the crowd all amped up and seems like a big deal. Then he can fuck off and get fat in between fights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 16, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 16, 2023 Fight card, start times and midlife crisis Dana in a leather jacket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Posted December 16, 2023 Share Posted December 16, 2023 Excellent card, and excellent posts all round in this thread! Wands last post just made me remember Gabrandt is on the show. What a hell of a comedown for him. Literally no mention or buzz about him at all these days. A complete after thought. Must be very hard on the ego to be king of the hill at some point and then a complete has been not long after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 16, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 16, 2023 Garbrandt’s not even the main attraction in his own fight! Check out the bonce on Brian Kelleher… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted December 16, 2023 Share Posted December 16, 2023 Anyone else get the feeling that Leon is going to chin Covington and put him away? I don't know why I do, but that's the feeling I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce85 Posted December 16, 2023 Share Posted December 16, 2023 15 minutes ago, David said: Anyone else get the feeling that Leon is going to chin Covington and put him away? I don't know why I do, but that's the feeling I have. I know he’s not a big finisher but I can see Leon getting the KO. Colby can be prone to swinging wildly and I can see Leon clipping him on the way in. It might just be wishful thinking and my dislike for Colby that’s giving me that thought. Jeez that’s some barnet on Kelleher! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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