Brandon Royval Posterizes Matheus Nicolau

Brandon
Royval made his case for a flyweight title shot, blasting
Matheus
Nicolau with a gorgeous knee-to-punch combo in the first round
of their
UFC on ESPN 44 prelim encounter.

“Raw Dawg” (15-6) was his characteristic hyper-aggressive self
immediately, taking the fight to his more measured foe. However,
things appeared to be settling into an intriguing chess match on
the feet when, out of nowhere, Royval clipped Nicolau with a
perfect right knee to the chin, followed by a long right hand that
caught the Brazilian as he fell. Royval pounced immediately,
tacking on several elbow strikes before referee Nick Berens jumped
in for the righteous stoppage at 2 minutes, 9 seconds of Round
1.

The win brought Royval’s record in the Octagon to 5-2, while
Nicolau fell to 19-3-1 overall, 4-1 in the UFC, and saw a six-fight
win streak snapped in defeat.