Latest news with #Royval
USA Today
04-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Manel Kape vs. Brandon Royval booked for UFC 317
There's movement at the top of the UFC flyweight division. Title contenders Manel Kape and Brandon Royval have been booked to meet at UFC 317 on June 28 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. MMA Junkie confirmed the news with two sources following a first report by Laerte Viana. This isn't the first time Kape (21-7 MMA, 7-3 UFC) and Royval (17-7 MMA, 7-3 UFC) have signed a contract to fight each other. The two were initially set to meet at UFC Fight Night 253 on March 1, but Royval withdrew from the matchup due to a couple of concussions he suffered in training. Kape stayed on the card, and ended up fighting and stopping replacement Asu Almabayev in the main event. Kape is on a two-fight winning streak since his odd defeat to Muhammad Mokaev. He's 6-1 in his past seven UFC outings. Royval hasn't competed since October, when he defeated top prospect Tatsuro Taira in an exciting and competitive split decision. Prior to that, 'Raw Dog' had picked up arguably the biggest win of his career, outpointing former champion Brandon Moreno in Mexico. At the time of writing, there at no other fights currently confirmed for UFC 317.
USA Today
12-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Brandon Royval opens up on troubling reason for UFC Fight Night 253 withdrawal
Former UFC title challenger Brandon Royval had to put his health first when deciding not to compete again. Last week, Royval (17-7 MMA, 7-3 UFC) announced that he had to pull out of his UFC Fight Night 253 flyweight headliner against Manel Kape (20-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) on March 1 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Royval now has opened up on why he withdrew, revealing that back-to-back concussions forced him to take a step back. 'Maybe a couple months back, I had a concussion,' Royval said on his YouTube channel. 'Nothing too crazy. I was just playing it safe, playing it smart. A couple weeks later, when I was recovered, I accepted this fight, which was awesome. Fight Manel Kape. I respect his skills, I respect him as a striker and all that. I was training hard for this fight, and being a little reckless and being kind of in the zone for camp, I got another concussion. This one was severely worse. 'It's been over a week at this point, and I'm still dealing with the repercussions of it and the symptoms of a bad concussion. And because of that reason and because of the reasoning of adding a weight cut, Manel Kape being a good striker, and this being a predominantly striking match that we felt this would be the safest move. Take some time, recover, recover the right way this time, and fight at a later date. Fight when I can fully train, fully take a punch, and give you guys the best of my ability.' Kape will now face Asu Almabayev instead. After falling short against flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 296, Royval rebounded with back-to-back main event wins over Brandon Moreno and formerly unbeaten Tatsuro Taira. For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie's event hub for UFC Fight Night 253.
