KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Brandon Royval went off on the UFC for his placement at UFC on ESPN 44.
Royval (15-6 MMA, 5-2 UFC) returned to action this past Saturday against Brazil’s Matheus Nicolau. Their flyweight bout was part of the event’s preliminary card, which didn’t sit well with Royval, who won the fight by first-round knockout.
“Why am I on any of these prelims?” Royval asked of the UFC’s during his UFC on ESPN 44 post-fight news conference. “I got Fight of the Night every single one of my fights, bonuses on every single one of my fights. Why am I on a prelim?
“I’m a top-five guy in the division. I’m the second-highest ranked on this card. I’m the second-highest ranked on this entire card, and I’m on a prelim. It’s like, why? It’s not like I’m a boring wrestler trying to wrestle f*ck these dudes. I go in for the finish, and I put myself in danger. I don’t need to be doing that. You saw me not do that today, but I went and put myself in danger in every single one of my fights, and I go make statements. Why am I on a f*cking prelim?”
Later on that night, UFC president Dana White was asked about Royval’s placement on the preliminary card. He agreed with Royval’s criticism and said he should’ve been on the main card.
“He’s not wrong,” White said. “He’s not wrong. Listen, we’re really good at what we do, but we f*ck up sometimes. I literally said in my green room (that) we f*cked this up. This kid should’ve opened the (main card) tonight. He’s right. He should open the show tonight. He’s not wrong. We got a lot of moving parts, and unfortunately sometimes when I got in here today and started looking around I said, ‘Yeah, we f*cked this up. He’s right, sorry.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 44.
