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With the final showdown between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno set to take place in January, top contenders Askar Askarov and Brandon Royval look to make their individual cases for facing the undisputed champion — whomever that may be — later in 2023 when they face off on Saturday night.
Askarov returns for the first time since suffering the initial defeat of his professional career — a close, competitive decision setback against Kai Kara-France in March. The 29-year-old boxer and wrestler had posted consecutive victories over Tim Elliott, Alexandre Pantoja, and Joseph Benavidez prior to that, as well as battling Moreno to a draw in his promotional debut, and can get right back into the thick of the title conversation with a win over Royval in Las Vegas.
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Another member of the Factory X squad, Royval has been hovering on the fringes of title contention for the last couple years. After debuting with submission wins over Elliott and Kara-France, he dropped back-to-back contests to Moreno and Pantoja, but has since rebounded with wins over Rogerio Bontorin and Matt Schnell already this year.
There are others in line to challenge for the title at flyweight at the moment — namely Pantoja — but a dynamic effort from either fighter would put them on the short list to face whoever emerges from the UFC 283 title unification quadrilogy between Figueiredo and Moreno.