Brandon Royval [1296x729]
Brandon Royval [1296x729] (Credit: Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

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Brandon Royval reinserted his name on the shortlist of men's flyweight contenders with a hard-fought split decision win over Tatsuro Taira in the main event at UFC Fight Night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Royval had to overcome some adversity in the five-round fight, as the former title challenger was taken down six times and allowed Taira to record over 12 minutes of control time on the mat. But Royval did well enough on the feet and even ended Round 5 in control of Taira on the mat to get his hand raised. This was the first loss of Taira's professional MMA career.

The co-main event also ended in a split decision, as JunYong Park narrowly outpointed Brad Tavares.

Here's everything that went down at UFC Fight Night, including results, top news, highlights and big moments on Saturday.

How to watch the fights

Watch all of the fights on ESPN+: Get ESPN+ here.

There's also FightCenter, which offers live updates for every UFC card.

Brandon Royval hands Tatsuro Taira his first loss in main event

Brett Okamoto: Former UFC men's flyweight title challenger Brandon Royval held off one of the most talented prospects in his division on Saturday, as he handed Tatsuro Taira his first professional loss via split decision.

Royval (17-7) outlasted Taira (16-1) in a back-and-forth flyweight contest, in the main event of UFC Fight Night inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Royval hurt Taira multiple times on the feet, but found himself in plenty of bad positions on the mat. Two of the three judges scored the 125-pound fight 48-47 in favor of Royval, while a third had it 48-47 for Taira.

Immediately after the result, Royval, 32, praised the skills of his opponent and referred to him as a future champion, before calling for his own title shot.

Read the full story here.

UFC Fight Night results

Men's flyweight: Brandon Royval def. Tatsuro Taira Middleweight: JunYong Park def. Brad Tavares  Welterweight: Chidi Njokuani def. Jared Gooden Lightweight: Grant Dawson def. Rafa Garcia Welterweight: Daniel Rodriguez def. Alex Morono Men's flyweight: Ramazan Temirov def. CJ Vergara  Featherweight: Pat Sabatini def. Jonathan Pearce  Welterweight: Themba Gorimbo def. Niko Price Heavyweight: Junior Tafa def. Sean Sharaf Strawweight: Julia Polastri def. Cory McKenna Men's bantamweight: Cody Haddon def. Dan Argueta  Men's flyweight: Clayton Carpenter def. Lucas Rocha

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