Joshua Van scored his second victory in three weeks, beating Brandon Roybal in the absolute war at UFC 317.
Loibal kept him at bay early on with a jab-calf kick combination, which was a slow start from the van. Eventually, Van finally began to find a path inside, tagging “Raw Dawg” with his right hand. With 90 seconds left in the opening round, Van caught Loibal on the right, which removed the previous title challenger from his foot.
Royval threw a big first strike, but it was Van who landed a more fulfilling shot.
Things really started to open up in the second round with Loibal landing on a clip that was significantly higher than the first round. But Van had an answer for all the strikes that “Raw Dawg” landed. In 20 seconds, the van connected with his booming right hand that stumbled over the Loibal.
The undenied lobal came back quickly in combination, just to meet another right from the Myanmar star.
With the fight likely being tied down, Loibal and Van held their feet on Gus, offering one of the more memorable and impressive battles of 2025. Loibal went down the mouthpiece a little as he closed the distance, but ended up eating a big right hand out of the van. Loibal flashed a smile when he returned to work.
Loibal puts it up midway through the third, but Van lands a counter that backs up Loibal and takes a little time to reset. There was another combination of Van Lands, but Royval connected with his combo and refused to retreat.
In 10 seconds, Van misses the huge right hand that Loibal crashed onto the canvas. With no time left, Van desperately rained down on a massive amount of ground and pound strikes, but was unable to clean up the “raw daug” before the final horn.
Official Results:Joshua van def. Brandon Roybal (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)