Brandon Royval is eager to challenge Alexandre Pantoja for the flyweight title at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro, despite having been defeated by Pantoja in the past, and is confident he can make the necessary adjustments to win.
Brandon Royval is pumped. He’s ready to dive headfirst into enemy territory.
The matchmakers might grant him his wish on May 4. That’s if they decide to give him another shot at Alexandre Pantoja. Remember Pantoja? He successfully defended the flyweight title against Royval last December at UFC 296.
Now, the Brazilian star is set to headline UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro. But he needs a challenger. Royval’s recent win over Brandon Moreno in the UFC Mexico City main event might have just catapulted him to the front of the line.
Royval managed to scrape a narrow split decision over Mexico’s Moreno. It was sweet revenge for a November 2020 loss. If he has to venture into Pantoja’s home country for another shot at the UFC champion title, he’s up for it.
“I’m going to continue spoiling parties,” Royval declared at the UFC Mexico City post-fight press conference. “UFC 301, I’m going to fight Pantoja and I’m going to take his belt in his hometown, in Rio de Janeiro. And after I win that belt, I’ll defend my belt in Denver, Colorado.”
But there’s a roadblock to Royval’s title dreams. Pantoja defeated him just two months ago. And he already holds two victories over Royval. A third fight might be a tough sell.
But Royval just knocked off a two-time UFC champion who previously had bragging rights over him. He’s confident that he’s proven he can make the necessary tweaks to finally knock off Pantoja.
“You’ve seen it,” Royval said. “I made adjustments in six weeks. Five weeks, whatever it was, five weeks because I hurt my hand and I couldn’t get back into training. I had a five-week training camp. In five weeks, I made a bunch of adjustments.”
“I didn’t get held down. Brandon Moreno tried to slow me down, slow down the pace, hold me down, keep me down. They ain’t going to hold me down no more.”
Royval is best known for his thrilling finishes. But on Saturday, he wowed in a 25-minute fight with Moreno. He used relentless volume and pace to win the decision on two of the judges’ cards. It was a far cry from his lackluster performance against Pantoja at UFC 296.
It’s still up in the air if Royval will get the call to headline in Rio. If it happens, he only sees one possible outcome this time around.
“I’m going to be the champ,” Royval said. “That’s the future. The future is the ‘Raw Dawg’ Royval is going to be the champ and then I’ll fight anybody. I’ll fight No. 10, I don’t really care. But I’m going to be the new champion. I messed up, I dropped the ball. You guys have seen in five weeks me correct those mistakes and I’m only going to get better by UFC 301.”