Brandon Royval believes Rogerio Bontorin tapped at UFC Vegas 46, wants the loser of Moreno-Figueiredo 3

Brandon Royval thinks Rogerio Bontorin tapped in their fight at UFC Vegas 46.

Royval was entering the fight on a two-fight losing streak and looking to get back into the win column in a big way. In the fight against Bontorin, it was a back-and-forth fight but in the third round, Royval had Bontorin in an armbar it appeared the Brazilian tapped.

“I saw him go for the tap but in his defense, I didn’t loosen up on it when he touched me. If you look closely at the replay, you can see that he tapped once,” Royval said to BJPENN.com. “But, as he tapped, that armbar loosened a little bit. Once he tapped he immediately looked at the ref to make sure the ref didn’t see it. That never stopped me from cranking on his arm. But, he did tap.”

Image Credit: Brandon Royval’s Instagram

When the ref didn’t stop the fight, Royval continued to search for the finish but it went the distance. For “Raw Dawg,” even though he didn’t get the submission, he is still pleased with his performance.

“I wish I did somethings differently. I’m always trying to be exciting, but for me, I’m pleased that I was able to dig deep in that third round,” Royval said. “That is what I’m happy about the most.”

When the fight ended, Brandon Royval was confident was he was going to get his hand raised. Yet, one judge scored the fight for Bontorin which cause some confusion for Royval.

However, in the end, it was Royval winning by decision which he says was a big relief.

“When they said his name, I was like ‘f**k.’ I was confident heading into them reading the scorecards as I thought I won the first and third but when they said one judge gave it to him that all changed,” Royval said. “But, when I won it was a massive exhale and relief that I won and got back into the win column. It’s the start of a great year.”

Now that Royval is back in the win column he says he’ll be paying close attention to UFC 270 as he wants to fight the loser of the title fight between Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo.

“The only fight that makes sense is anything short notice, like the Alex Perez vs. Matt Schnell fight and same thing with the Kai Kara-France and Askar Askarov fight. I’m going to stay ready for those but I want the loser of the title fight,” Royval said.

Who would you like to see Brandon Royval fight next?