Brandon
Royval has a little more work to do if he wants to get another
shot at flyweight gold.
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According to an initial report from Ag.Fight, Royval will face former Rizin bantamweight
champion Manel Kape
in the main event of UFC
Fight Night 253 on March 1. Royval and multiple outlets have
since confirmed the booking. The event is expected to take place at
the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
“At the end of the day, I got the toughest résumé since I signed to
the UFC,” Royval wrote on Instagram. “Y’all going to learn to put
some respect on my name. Only top 10 fighters. 4th main event in a
row.”
Royval has won five of his last six UFC appearances. His lone
defeat during that stretch came when he challenged Alexandre
Pantoja for the flyweight belt and dropped a unanimous decision
at UFC 296. “Raw Dawg” has since rebounded to post back-to-back
triumphs over Brandon
Moreno and Tatsuro
Taira in headlining bouts.
Kape is also 5-1 in his last six promotional outings. He is coming
off a third-round TKO win over Bruno Silva
at UFC Tampa on Dec. 14 — arguably his most impressive Octagon
performance to date. Kape seemingly addressed the pairing in his
own social media post.
“He has to be quiet, he won’t fight for the belt,” Kape wrote on X.
“It will be with me, he will do what we are telling him to do.
March 1 main event.”