Monthly Report | June 2025

Joshua Van of Myanmar trades strikes with Brandon Royval in a flyweight bout during the UFC 317 event at T-Mobile Arena on June 28, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

A Busy Month In The Octagon Produced Plenty Of Outstanding Performances

By E. Spencer Kyte, on X @spencerkyte • Jun. 30, 2025

This month’s action inside the Octagon was a variation on a Jay-Z lyric — “grand opening, grand closing” — as June kicked off and wrapped up with a loaded pay-per-view fight card that sent shockwaves through several divisions.

Now, that wasn’t Shawn Carter’s intended interpretation of that line, but it fits nicely as a way to get into this month’s edition of the Monthly Report, where we look at the top performances from the month that was before we get ready to transition to the fights at hand.

And there were several truly standout efforts over the previous four events.

Breakout Performance: Joshua Van (UFC 316 & UFC 317)

When you compete on both of the month’s pay-per-view events, you automatically earn the Breakout Performance award; that’s the new rule.

UFC 317 REWIND: Final Results | Bonus Coverage | Topuria Post-Fight Interview

The 23-year-old flyweight opened the month with a third-round stoppage over Bruno Silva at UFC 316, showcasing not only his standout boxing, but also his continued development and growth as a fighter. Throughout the contest, the native of Myanmar picked his spots and piled up the damage, turning the intriguing veteran test into a coming out party that closed with him finally dispatching the Brazilian with a punishing body shot along the fence.

In all honesty, that effort alone would have put him in the running for this fictional bit of hardware, but one fight wasn’t enough for the active Houston resident, as Van downed nothing but water at his victory celebration after agreeing to replace Manel Kape opposite Brandon Royval at UFC 317.

Joshua Van Post-Fight Interview | UFC 317

And then he walked out and seemingly punched his ticket to a championship opportunity by defeating Royval in the final non-title bout of the night in Las Vegas.

Van was the better of the two in the opening round, connecting over the top of Royval’s long-range attacks, immediately showing he belonged. After the Denver-based standout rallied in the second, they ran level for much of the third, only for Van to shift things into his favor by flooring Royval with a sharp right hand in the closing minute of the contest.

WATCH: About Last Fight With Topuria, Pantoja & More

Beating Silva was the biggest win of Van’s career to date, and enough to establish him as a future contender in the 125-pound weight class. Three weeks later, he established himself as the No. 1 contender in the flyweight division, extending his winning streak to five and his record to 8-1 inside the Octagon.

At the start of the month, it became clear Van had a future in the upper echelon of the division. After UFC 317, the question is how quickly the future will arrive.

Honorable Mentions: JooSang Yoo, Andreas Gustafsson, Malcolm Wellmaker, Jose Ochoa, SeokHyun Ko, Nazim Sadykhov, Jose Miguel Delgado,

Submission of the Month: Merab Dvalishvili taps Sean O’Malley (UFC 316)

“The Machine” is upgrading.

Merab Dvalishvili of Georgia secures a submission against Sean O'Malley in the UFC bantamweight championship bout during the UFC 316 event at Prudential Center on June 07, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC)

Nine months after Dvalishvili wrestled the bantamweight title away from O’Malley, the duo shared the Octagon for a second time, facing off in the main event of UFC 316. While many forecasted a similar approach and outcome to their first encounter — and generally the same formula the Georgian champion has deployed throughout his extended run of success — the 35-year-old delivered a twist ending like he was M. Night Shyamalan.

After two rounds of depositing O’Malley on the canvas and following his familiar approach, Dvalishvili gave the challenger just enough space to start working back to his feet before diving on a modified ninja choke, forcing the former champion to tap.

WATCH: Sit-Down Interview With Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall

In the lead up to the fight, Dvalishvili and his coach John Wood spoke about their increased focus on taking advantage of the numerous grappling entanglements the champion constantly produces, devoting more time working to create finishing opportunities. Less than 15 minutes into his highly anticipated rematch with O’Malley, the streaking titleholder turned all those practice reps into his first submission win inside the Octagon.

If competitors in the 135-pound weight class weren’t already racking their brains trying to come up with ways to contend with the bottomless gas tank and relentless wrestling the champion brings to the table every time out, the fact that he’s now out here finishing fights too has to have hopefuls re-doubling their efforts to figure out how to deal with Dvalishvili 2.0.

Honorable Mentions: Kevin Holland vs. Vicente Luque, Kayla Harrison vs. Julianna Pena, Myktybek Orolbai vs. Tofiq Musaeyev, Jacobe Smith vs. Niko Price, Terrance McKinney vs. Viacheslav Borshchev, Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Kara-France

Knockout of the Month: Ilia Topuria stops Charles OIiveira (UFC 317)

There have been a number of impressive debut performances through the first half of the UFC slate this year, but JooSang Yoo put himself in the running for top spot in our midyear awards with his 28-second knockout win over Jeka Saragih in Atlanta earlier this month.

Ilia Topuria KOs Charles Oliveira In Round 1 at UFC 317 on June 28, 2025.

The finish was reminiscent of another short left hook that sent an opponent crashing face-first into the canvas several years earlier, which was fitting, given that the broadcast team had spoken about the South Korean newcomer having spent time training at SBG Ireland in the past and coach John Kavanagh feeling like Yoo had streaks of Conor McGregor’s striking approach rippled throughout his arsenal.

As Saragih came forward, looking to press the action and attack Yoo, “Zombie Jr.” took a half-step off the center line, swiped a quick, pointed left hook at his jaw and connected, shutting off the Indonesian competitor’s power supply. Not only was it the kind of clean connection that left no question as to the finality of the outcome as soon as it connected, but it also instantly and indelibly imprinted Yoo’s name in the minds of everyone watching.

GET YOUR TICKETS: UFC Nashville | UFC 318 | UFC Abu Dhabi

Unbeaten in nine professional bouts with more than half of his victories coming inside the distance, the 31-year-old UFC freshman is one to keep close watch of as we head into the second half of the 2025 calendar. And after a debut like this, it’s going to be fun to see what Yoo does for an encore whenever he returns.

Honorable Mentions: Jose Ochoa vs. Cody Durden, Malcolm Wellmaker vs. Kris Moutinho, Delgado vs. Hyder Amil

Fight of the Month: Joshua Van vs Brandon Royval (UFC 317)

With a championship opportunity hanging in the balance, Joshua Van and Brandon Royval rolled into the Octagon to close out the month and blew the roof off T-Mobile Arena.

Joshua Van of Myanmar strikes Brandon Royval in a flyweight bout during the UFC 317 event at T-Mobile Arena on June 28, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

The 23-year-old Van stood tall to start, getting the better of the exchanges against the top-ranked contender. He was quick with his counters and varied with his offerings, taking what Royval was giving him and showing straight away that he wasn’t going to roll over for the former title challenger. Royval responded in the second, upping his output and his success rate, looking to put a pace on Van as he looked to draw level. While he was able to out-land his Houston-based foe, Van continued to live in the fire, responding often and making Royval work for ever inch he was able to claw back.

Level heading into the third, it was volume versus impact for much of the frame, with Royval continuing to throw and land more, but Van answering by connecting on the biggest shots. As the bout headed into the closing moments with the win seemingly up for grabs, Van put Royval on the deck and chased him to the floor, pouring on shots as the bout concluded

When the scorecards were collected and totaled, Van came out ahead, earning his second win of the month, third win of the year, and eighth win in nine starts in just over two years.

Honorable Mentions: Rose Namajunas vs. Miranda Maverick, Kamaru Usman vs. Joaquin Buckley, Nazim Sadykhov vs. Nikolas Motta, Payton Talbott vs. Felipe Lima,

UFC 316: Dvalishvili vs O'Malley 2 took place live from Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on June 7, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!