MEXICO CITY – Brandon Royval spoiled the fiesta Saturday at Mexico City Arena, and he hopes to continue his tour of disappointing UFC attendees.
With a split decision win over former titleholder Brandon Moreno in the UFC Fight Night 237 main event, Royval (16-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) thinks the logical next choice for a flyweight title challenger is himself. A May 4 rematch vs. titleholder Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is what he wants.
“I’m going to keep spoiling parties,” Royval told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference. “At UFC 301, I’m going to fight Pantoja, and I’m going to take his belt in his hometown. We’ll keep spoiling parties. After I win that belt, I’ll defend my belt in Denver, Colorado.”
Some fights fans might be sour to the idea of running back a fight that just took place in December. Pantoja (27-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) defeated Royval at UFC 296 on Dec. 16.
However, Royval would ask the naysayers to look at his improvement in the two months since then and what he was able to accomplish Saturday in hostile territory.
“You’ve seen it,” Royval said. “I’ve made adjustments in six weeks or five weeks, whatever it was. It was five weeks because I hurt my hand, and I couldn’t get back into training. I had a five-week training camp for that. In five weeks, I made a bunch of adjustments. I didn’t get held down. Brandon Moreno tried to slow me down, hold me down, slow the pace, keep me down. They ain’t going to hold me down no more, bro.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 237.
