Brandon
Royval believes Youssef
Zalal is one of the best bantamweights at Factory X who just
hasn’t gotten his share of recognition yet.
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Royval (15-6) is currently gearing up to challenge Alexandre
Pantoja (26-5) for the
Ultimate Fighting Championshipflyweight title in the co-main
event at UFC 296 on Dec. 16 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“Raw Dawg” has been training with elite bantamweight contenders
like Chris
Gutierrez and Jonathan
Martinez at the Factory X gym in Colorado. However, Royval
claims former UFC fighter Youssef
Zalal is probably the best of the lot.
“Being on the rise with some of these guys is – like I genuinely
don’t think I’d be where I’m at without having the best 135ers
around me. And that’s including Youssef Zalal. Youssef Zalal is
probably better than all of us, it’s just that he’s not getting his
opportunity yet,” Pantoja told Sportskeeda MMA.
Zalal was released by the UFC on the back of an 0-3-1 streak which
started with a decision loss against featherweight contender
Ilia
Topuria who is set to face Alexander
Volkanovski for the title at UFC 298 on Feb. 17. Royval, who
was cornering Zalal for that fight, remembers “The Moroccan Devil”
putting on a decent fight against the elite Spaniard, even stealing
away the final round. Since his release from the UFC, Zalal has
pulled off three consecutive first-round stoppage wins under the
Sparta Combat League banner. Royval, like Zalal himself, believes
that the 27-year-old will eventually be re-signed by the UFC. While
Zalal fought at 145 pounds for most of his UFC career, Royval
believes his teammate belongs at bantamweight and expects him to be
a factor in that division on his eventual return to the Las
Vegas-based promotion.
“I know, he won a round against [Topuria] for sure, f—ing wobbled
him. Yeah, I was cornering him for that fight. But that being said,
that kid’s super talented and I can’t wait to see when he gets back
in the UFC and he gets put in the bantamweight division, he’s gonna
take that division by storm quick.”