Royval fought the perfect first round. He found his range early, dictated the pace, and did enough to steal the round.

However, in Round 2, Kavanagh bounced back in style. He landed a right hook that stunned Royval, then immediately followed it up with a body kick that dropped the 33-year-old. Kavanagh marched forward to finish Royval with ground-and-pound, but the latter somehow managed to survive and get back on his feet. “Raw Dawg” then scored a takedown of his own and ended the round on a strong note by landing back-to-back crisp jabs.

Round 3 began with both fighters stunning each other before Brandon Royval dragged Kavanagh to the mat and briefly hunted for an arm-triangle choke. Then, after taking Kavanagh’s back, Royval locked in a rear-naked choke and forced the Brit to tap at UFC 329.