Brandon
Royval had a good reason for withdrawing from his proposed main
event clash against Manel Kape
on March 1.
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In a video on his YouTube channel, the
UFC flyweight revealed that he suffered two separate concussion
in relatively close proximity. As a result, he decided that best
move for his overall wellness would be to withdraw from the
UFC Vegas 103 headliner. It wasn’t an easy call considering
that his fight against Kape could have been a title eliminator.
“First and foremost, I’ve fought so many times injured. I’ve fought
with broken hands, torn labrums, torn MCLs, all that, and for a lot
less money and not as meaningful of events. Pulling out of a main
event for the No. 1 spot was definitely a hard decision to make,”
Royval said.
“Maybe a couple months back, I had a concussion. Nothing too crazy;
I was just playing it safe, playing it smart. A couple weeks later,
when I recovered, I accepted this fight, which was awesome. [I
wanted to] 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 — 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.
“I’m sorry a million times over, but I do feel like this is the
best thing for my all-around health. I’ve played with plenty of
injuries in my life, but you really only get one brain, and the
brain cells don’t heal. All this was playing into effect as to why
I thought this was the better move.”
Kape was booked against Asu
Almabayev in the new UFC Vegas 103 main event after his
original opponent’s withdrawal. Royval, meanwhile, is easing back
into physical activity. The Factory
X product doesn’t have a specific timeframe for his return, as
he is currently taking a cautious approach to recovery.
“As of right now, the training has been really bare minimum —
riding bikes and getting headaches andhaving onset concussion
symptoms after that. It’s still only been like a week, and it’s
back-to-back concussions. It’s the first time in years that I’ve
had a concussion, but having them back-to-back definitely has me
questioning when I want to start taking punches again or drilling
hard again or any of that because of the accidents that do happen.
The first concussion came from wrestling. It’s not all just
striking.
“… I really can’t wait to get back in there and prove my skills.
I’m definitely not done fighting, but this is something that can
definitely affect the long terms of my fighting if I don’t treat it
properly, and I want more fights. I want to deliver the best
fights. I’m an exciting fighter. That being said, being an exciting
fighter, you put yourself in a lot of danger, so I have to be
really cautious of how I enter some of these fights, especially
when it comes to the brain. Hopefully, I’m back soon.”
The 32-year-old Royval has won five of his last six Octagon
appearances, with his only setback during that time coming against
reigning flyweight champion Alexandre
Pantoja. “Raw Dawg” is coming off back-to-back split decision
triumphs over Brandon
Moreno and Tatsuro
Taira.