Brandon Royval enters UFC 296 in search of UFC gold, in his first title shot for the promotion he has called home since 2020.
Three shorts years saw the LFA veteran develop into a fan-favorite, thanks at least in part due to his finishing ways — a threat on the ground, and more recently on the feet with a knee strike finish of Matheus Nicolau in Royval’s last outing. The former LFA flyweight champ, to underscore that point, has four post-fight bonuses in seven UFC fights.
Now, Royval enters a rematch with Alexandre Pantoja, who submitted him in 2021, with the UFC flyweight title on the line. And it’s Pantoja who he credits for his more recent success.
“Alexandre Pantoja, 100%. I feel like I had to adapt and overcome almost with Alexandre Pantoja,” Royval (15-6) stated in an interview with Cageside Press. “There’s so many cool things, maybe not cool things but so many different things I had to change up, and I had to grow. With the Moreno fight, I can make a million excuses, like my arm was dangling. In my opinion, I still think I was going to win that fight. But that being said, Alexandre Pantoja, I lost. There’s no question about it, there’s no questionable judgement, it was like, I lost.
“I had to sit with that for the last two and a half years, three years almost or whatever it is. It’s like, I finally get to get my revenge, show my growth is really what it is. I credit that 100% to Alexandre Pantoja.”
Royval admits that in his first fight with Alexandre Pantoja, he made mistakes. “I was making a lot of mistakes. A lot of mistakes that I didn’t have to make, and I didn’t have to do.” Part of that was, upon arrival to the UFC, Royval believed he would stay in opponents’ faces and walk through them. “Alexandre Pantoja made me pay, and that being said, he made me grow too.”
Asked about the flyweight division as a whole, Brandon Royval underscored the entertainment factor in his fight with the champ.
“This fight’s going to be so chaotic and crazy, and such a fun fight for a fan. Not for me, I’ve been doing the training camp, practicing with a guy that’s doing an Alexandre Pantoja impersonation. It’s just going to be hell for me. But for you guys, that’s going to be a f*cking great-ass time. I feel like Alexandre Pantoja and myself are some of the funnest flyweights in the division.”
Watch our full interview with UFC 296 flyweight title challenger Brandon Royval above.
