Brandon Royval is serving as a backup to the UFC 290 co-main event between Brandon Moreno and Alexandre Pantoja, and he has already set his sights on facing the winner, arguing that he deserves the next title shot in the flyweight division more than Amir Albazi.
Brandon Royval seems to have his eyes on the championship belt as he gears up to be the backup for UFC 290’s co-main event. The brawling match between Brandon Moreno and Alexandre Pantoja is sure to be intense, and Royval has every intention of going head-to-head with the victor. Yet, the argument whether he is truly the division’s No. 1 contender has been heating up, especially after Amir Albazi’s contentious win over Kai Kara-France at UFC Vegas 74. The night was rife with questionable scoring from the judges, and many were left unconvinced even though Albazi proclaimed himself ready for a title shot.
However, Royval seems unperturbed by this. In fact, he appears to believe that Albazi did him a favor with the way the fight with Kara-France progressed. He directs a pointed question asking, “Who else is next?”. Quite audaciously, he states that Albazi has proven that he (Royval) deserves the next title shot in the flyweight division. Too absorbed in his self-confidence, Royval goes further to question Albazi’s victory, stating that in his opinion, Albazi didn’t win his last fight and makes no cases for his qualifications, except proving that Royval deserves the shot at the title.
Royval’s track record in UFC is definitely impressive and might be his strongest argument for a title shot in the upcoming fight. His spectacular knockout against Matheus Nicolau that delivered his third straight win, makes for a robust case. Known for his kinetic performances, Royval has only had one out of seven octagon performances that went to a decision. Viewers were on the edge of their seats as he ended his previous two fights in the first round itself by taking down Nicolau and Matt Schnell by knockout and submission, respectively.
In a blistering statement against Amir Albazi, Royval is outright critical of the latter’s performance against Kara-France under the high-pressure main event. He blatantly calls Albazi’s fight “boring,” taking a shot at them for not delivering an exciting enough fight given that they were the first flyweight main event in a long time. He even goes as far as to claim that his own performance would have been downright ‘crazy’ and exclaims that UFC wants fighters like him who go and finish fights and make statements. He prides himself on fighting nothing but top 10 fighters in the UFC and sees no one above him in the ranks. He seems confident that the UFC will not put him in a title fight against either Moreno or Pantoja since they fear him stealing the spotlight.