E283 - Is Brandon Royval actually Max Holloway?

The Fight Library

Brandon Royval snagged a sketchy split decision win over former flyweight champion Brandon Moreno this weekend at UFC Mexico. His fight was at elevation and “Raw Dog” put on a torrid pace of volume with a lot of variety. The question now is the following: Is Brandon Royval 125’s Max Holloway? Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:10 Brandon Royval’s volume 5:55 Brandon Moreno isn’t the same anymore 10:55 Brian Ortega’s big comeback 14:12 Yair Rodriguez doesn’t have a gas tank 16:13 Raoni Barcelos is the best cheater In this podcast we will be discussing Brandon Royval and how he utilized his length to give the “better boxer” Brandon Moreno trouble. We will also talk about why he didn’t gas at UFC Mexico despite it being at elevation. Hint: Brandon Royval trained at even higher elevation. Now Brandon Royval is the number one contender but will that give him a third fight against Alexandre Pantoja, the champion, despite him losing to Pantoja twice? Brandon Moreno has changed since his fights with Deiveson Figueiredo. He no longer punches straight and looked for looping shots over the top against Brandon Royval all night at UFC Mexico. Moreno isn’t big enough to go to 135 so he’s unfortunately stuck. That kinda sucks because I really enjoy when Brandon Moreno fights. He’s exciting. Next, Brian Ortega was back and took on Yair Rodriguez. Ortega isn’t a good wrestler despite needing to wrestle to get to his top level jiu jitsu. He showed that either A: he has been working on his cage wrestling ahead of UFC Mexico, or B: Yair Rodriguez was gassed. Brian Ortega still has many of the same problems he always has like being too comfortable with his hands despite getting hit way too much. But this fight returned a Brian Ortega who is a grappler first, not a reinvented boxer. Keep him away from Ilia Topuria tho. Yair Rodriguez has the same old problems. He has the gas tank of a weed eater and despite nearly finishing Ortega at UFC Mexico, he gassed himself out, spent round two on the bottom and got promptly choked out in round three. How tired do you have to be to let Brian Ortega take you down? Only Yair Rodriguez knows. Last for UFC Mexico, we talk about Raoni Barcelos’ cheating spree against Christian Quinonez. A fence grab, a wedgie, and downed knee were all on display. But Raoni Barcelos is still the man and got the finish so I’m happy!