UFC 274’s Brandon Royval: Much Respect for Schnell, Fighting in Front of Crowd “Means Everything”

UFC 274 will feature Brandon Royval taking on Matt Schnell in what is expected to be a very fast-paced, electric fight in the flyweight division.

Brandon Royval will be fighting Matt Schnell on May 7 at UFC 274. Interestingly enough, it was Schnell who actually tweeted in 2019 that the UFC should give Royval a shot in the promotion.

Which makes their upcoming bout just a little bit awkward, perhaps.

“Yeah, honestly, Matt Schnell would have been one of those people I would have liked to not fight. He’s been around a long time; I have a lot of respect for him,” Royval (13-6) told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview recently. “I like his fighting style a lot and he is one of the leaders of the flyweights. From the first MTV show or whatever, to that tweet, man, that all meant a lot to me. I kind of didn’t want to cross paths with him necessarily, but that being said, I’ve always been a fan of his. I’ve always liked watching him fight. I think he’ll bring out the best in me.”

“That tweet honestly meant a lot to me. I was coming off my LFA title fight and I won it in a crazy fashion,” Royval added. “I was getting a little bit of love, but that meant a lot, he didn’t need to do all that and push my name out there and stuff. I thought that was really cool of him.”

This will be the first bout in which Royval will fight in front a live crowd in an arena for the UFC. Asked what that meant to him, Royval explained that “It means everything to me. I feel like I’m making my UFC debut. I do better in front of crowds, and I always have. When you’re making that UFC debut walk, you don’t dream of doing that in empty arenas and I’ve been doing that this whole entire time. I’m creeping up in the rankings and I don’t want one of my first experiences walking out to a crowd to be fighting for a belt. I want to get this experience, and this is a dream come true.”

In regard to his prediction for May 7, Royval stated “I know it’s going to be chaos. My plan is walking him down and making it a brawl. The technique person I’ll leave up to Matt Schnell. I hope i can finish him early, but if that doesn’t happen, I’m ready to go 15 minutes and walking him down that whole entire time.”

Watch our full interview with UFC 274’s Brandon Royval above. The event takes place Saturday, May 7, 2022 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.