Las Vegas, NV – UFC flyweight Askar Askarov looks to start another win streak when he meets Brandon Royval at UFC Vegas 62 on Saturday night at the UFC APEX.
Askarov (14-1) comes off his first MMA loss to Kai Kara-France in March. Kara-France went onto fight Brandon Moreno for the interim flyweight title while Askarov went back to the drawing board following the loss.
“The fight was good last time, but I felt that I wasn’t ready 100% because I wasn’t fighting for one year before fight with Kai Kara-France. This fight you’re going to see me different. I’m going to put my everything into the fight and this time will be different,” Askarov told Cageside Press among other media through a teammate translating for him on Wednesday.
Opposite Askarov this time around will be Royval who brings a wild style to the octagon.
“Brandon is really tough guy. Tough opponent. I watched a lot of his fights. He’s good, but I’ve fought with tougher guys. I fought with better guys so I’m going to show this Saturday and I’m ready,” Askarov said.
“I fight how I fight. I don’t have to get ready for someone. I fight, I do what I do, and I fight with everyone with maximum I can. He’s not something special. I’ll fight like I fight. He has to get ready for me.”
Prior to the loss to Kara-France, Askarov had a long win streak. One that had 3 UFC wins in it, and one draw against then future flyweight champion Brandon Moreno. With Royval’s 4-2 UFC record which includes a win over Kara-France one may see this as a #1 contender fight.
“(I) don’t want to think about the title shot for now because Brandon is really tough guy. When (I) win this fight then we’ll see. (I) was ready for a title fight for a long time,” he said.
Due to his injury prior to the Kara-France fight which required surgery to repair Askarov was forced to take a long time to recover which may or may not have removed him from title shot considerations.
“(I) just want to concentrate (on) Brandon for now then we’ll see what’s going to happen.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Askar Askarov above. He takes on Brandon Royval at UFC Vegas 62 on Saturday October 15th at the UFC APEX.
