The Ultimate Fighting Championship is putting
together a potential title eliminator and tossing it on the prelims
of a Fight Night card.
On Wednesday,
Sports Illustrated broke the news that Brandon
Royval (14-6) would be taking on Matheus
Nicolau (19-2-1) on the preliminary portion of the
UFC Fight Night event on April 15. The unnumbered fight card is
going down at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Royval
has since confirmed this flyweight contest on his Instagram page.
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The UFC tenure of Royval has been streaky thus far after six
appearances, earning wins in his first two outings, then dropping
the next two, and bouncing back to rattle off two more victories.
In 2022, “Raw Dawg” claimed a split decision – his second career
win on the scorecards – over Rogerio
Bontorin, and he followed that by landing a guillotine choke on
Matt
Schnell less than four months later. The Factory X fighter was
linked to fights with Askar
Askarov and Amir Albazi,
but the former fell apart due to a failed weight cut from Askarov
and the latter when Royval broke his wrist. Royval sports a finish
rate of 86% as a pro, clocking in far higher than his opponent’s of
53%.
Brazil’s Nicolau has quietly rattled off six straight wins,
including four in the UFC, to creep up the rankings of his
division. Three decisions over Manel Kape,
Tim
Elliott and David
Dvorak moved him into a key fight with Schnell in December, and
he smoked the American in the second round to notch his first
knockout in over eight years. This stint is Nicolau’s second, as he
pulled off three wins from 2015 to 2017 before getting starched by
a Dustin
Ortiz head kick in 2018. Two wins outside the promotion spelled
his return in 2021.
The UFC Fight Night card on April 15 will take place inside of the
T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Headlining it is an
all-action featherweight pairing as Max
Holloway takes on Arnold
Allen. The co-main attraction will see Edson
Barboza battle Billy
Quarantillo also at 145 pounds. The main card fills out with
Dustin
Jacoby vs. Azamat
Murzakanov in the light heavyweight division, Chris
Gutierrez against Pedro
Munhoz at bantamweight and a featherweight banger when T.J. Brown
meets Bill
Algeo.