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Brandon Royval needs to make himself “plain” within the flyweight title dialog.
On Saturday, Royval faces Askar Askarov in a featured flyweight bout at UFC Vegas 62. Askarov and Royval at the moment maintain the No. 4 and No. 5 spots in the UFC flyweight rankings, and with Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno set to unify flyweight titles at UFC 283, Royval plans on delivering a efficiency that may earn him a No. 1 contender matchup in opposition to Alexandre Pantoja on the identical card.
“That’s my purpose, to go on the market and be plain,” Royval advised Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “Go on the market and make an announcement. The title struggle is already made in Brazil, and if I’m going on the market and make an announcement on Askar Askarov, then I believe I ought to be combating Pantoja on that title struggle card. Be the No. 1 contender struggle. Alexandre Pantoja already is the backup for that struggle so I would as effectively get myself in place to go struggle him and get that rematch again.”
Pantoja already holds a win over Royval, submitting him in August of this previous yr, and as Royval famous, he’s already set to function the backup for the flyweight title struggle in Brazil. Nevertheless, Royval believes {that a} win over Askarov, who holds a unanimous resolution win over Pantoja, would tip the MMA math in his favor, getting him his rematch.
“It’s not one thing I requested for however it’s a kind of issues,” Royval stated. “Askarov beat Pantoja, if I’m going on the market and end Askarov, it type of cancels out my loss to Pantoja, and that’s the one loss I actually have within the UFC proper now. So I can go on the market and get that accomplished, [but] perhaps it’s a wishful thought.”
It might be a pipe dream, and if it isn’t, it’s definitely an unlucky flip for Pantoja. The No. 2-ranked flyweight is using a three-fight profitable streak and plenty of felt he deserved the subsequent shot on the belt, however a logjam on the high of the division has left him odd man out in the interim. Making Pantoja struggle once more could be a tricky flip for him, and although Royval agrees, he’s nonetheless making an attempt to make it occur.
“I might’ve most popular in the event that they went Pantoja, and in the event that they’d have gone with Pantoja that may have given me a possibility to struggle Moreno. I don’t suppose the interim title shot made sense to me in any respect,” Royval stated. “I don’t know why there was an interim title, Deiveson wasn’t gone that lengthy. Pantoja undoubtedly earned his stripes beating myself, Kai Kara-France, and Moreno twice. So I don’t essentially get it however no matter, I’m simply going to attempt to get myself in place to be there.”
In fact all of that is predicated on Royval beating Askarov, which is under no circumstances a assure. Askarov is at the moment a -245 betting favorite (implying a win chance of 71 %) and he has a formidable profession report of 14-1-1, together with wins over Pantoja, Tim Elliott, and Joseph Benavidez. Beating him can be a tall process, however as with the flyweight title image, Royval has plan.
“Kai Kara-France was capable of push a excessive tempo and capable of type of gasoline him out somewhat bit, and after I fought Kai Kara-France, one of many issues that I used to be capable of do was put a excessive tempo and overwhelm him in a way too,” Royval stated. “There’s this racer, Steve Prefontaine, and I believe that’s been somewhat little bit of my motivation this struggle. Steve Prefontaine was recognized to placed on an enormous tempo and type of tackle the struggle as a racer, and that’s what’s been occurring in my head. I need him to harm, and I need him to harm within the sense that one, I’m beating him up, but in addition within the sense that I’m hurting. I need my lungs to be gassed out, I need to push myself past my limits, and I need him to really feel that too. And if I really feel like if I’m feeling it, I do know he’s feeling it too, and that’s after I suppose I can take over the struggle. Put a Prefontaine tempo on him and make it soiled and attempt to take the win from there.”
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