Brandon Royval is one of the UFC flyweight division’s top talents. Since making his debut in 2020, Royval has quickly risen through the division, establishing himself as one of the best. However, despite his high-flying antics, Royval has a very heartbreaking reason for his motivation as well.
For those unaware, ‘Raw Dawg‘ is the #2 ranked contender in the flyweight division. Set to challenge for the title, he has made a name for himself owing to the way he fights. As his nickname may suggest, Royval has a certain wildness about him, that he unleashes on his opponents inside the Octagon.
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Coming in with a kill-or-be-killed mentality every time he fights, Royval has amassed a solid following with his performances. Notably, his fans will always point to his epic fight against Kai Kara France at UFC 253. In what was a furious exchange with a lot of back and forth, Royval managed to find his balance amidst the chaos and pull out a submission victory.
With that said Brandon has also stacked up victories against top-level opposition like Tim Elliot, Rogerio Bontorin, Matt Schnell, and Matheus Nicolau. As such, his only losses have come against Brandon Moreno and Alexandre Pantoja, the former champion and the current champion. Additionally, his loss to Moreno comes with an asterisk due to a shoulder dislocation that led to the loss.
Brandon Royval reveals why his brother wasn’t able to watch his fight
Despite there not being a lot of information available about Royval’s family members, we do know that he has an older brother named Darian. Often, Brandon has reiterated that his elder brother was the reason he got into MMA. According to the flyweight contender, his elder brother had all the makings of a potential world champion. Following his win over Matheus Nicolau, Royval expressed his discontent about being put on the prelims.
However, the reasons were more than his ego. Overcome with emotion, Royval blurted out the truth to ESPN reporter Heidi Androl. Further, he also spoke on the MMA Hour, fully explaining the situation. “I have a brother who is incarcerated, and they have ESPN, you can see it on ESPN. The whole week we were talking, and I wouldn’t get into MMA without my brother. Me and him chose very different paths in life and this is how we bond, this was our bonding,” Brandon explained.
Further, he continued, “We grew up in this sport together…the silver lining is like okay I’m on the prelims and at least you could see this… and then I go on to find out the week of that they’re having the prelims on ESPN+, so now he’s not gonna be able to see any of it”. Notably, it was a shock that a fighter of Royval’s caliber was on the prelims in the first place.
Following the event, UFC President Dana White also confirmed that it was a bad decision on their end. Fortunately, Brandon Royval was given a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for his electric finish of Matheus Nicolau. To make things better, Royval got the news that his brother was able to see the highlight reel knockout via a clip, making the moment worth it.