Brandon Royval thinks Alexandre Pantoja trilogy bout could headline UFC 301: ‘I know I can beat him’

Brandon Royval hopes a win in a pivotal rematch this weekend sets up a meeting with another rival in the near future.

“Raw Dawg” headlines UFC Mexico City this Saturday opposite two-time flyweight champion Brandon Moreno. It’s the second meeting between the two, with Moreno having scored a first-round TKO of Royval at UFC 255 in November 2020. During that fight, Royval also suffered a shoulder injury.

Not only does Royval have the opportunity to avenge that loss, but an impressive performance could earn him another crack at current flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja. Royval dropped a unanimous decision to Pantoja this past December at UFC 296, but with the the matchmakers needing a headlining bout for UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro on May 4, and Pantoja being the biggest Brazilian star not currently booked, Pantoja could be called upon to close out that show against Saturday’s main event winner.

Royval considered his chances of earning that spot during an appearance on The MMA Hour.

“I thought for sure that if Brandon Moreno wins, even though me and him are coming off the same loss, that they’ll give it to him,” Royval said. “I didn’t think they were going to necessarily give it to me, but I just found out that Pantoja’s here. He’s going to be in the audience and all that stuff, so maybe there’s going to be something a little extra to fight for besides just a No. 1 contender’s spot and all that.”

Royval has made a name for himself as one of the flyweight division’s most exciting fighters, with 13 of his pro wins coming by way of knockout or submission. Should he find a way to finish Moreno — a fighter whose only loss inside the distance came on The Ultimate Fighter 24 in an exhibition bout against Pantoja — then it will be difficult to deny him another shot at the title.

And should that happen, Royval sees the odds as being in his favor.

“Respect to Pantoja for sure, I know I can beat him,” Royval said. “I know that that’s a winnable fight for me. I feel like he did a lot of great things during that fight and a lot of cool adjustments and stuff, but nobody beats me three times in a row. That’s crazy.”

Pantoja holds two wins over Royval in their rivalry. In addition to a convincing decision win over Royval in their most recent encounter, Pantoja also scored a second-round submission of Royval in August 2021.

In their second fight, Royval went the distance, but the result was almost more disappointing due to the fact that Pantoja’s strategy caused Royval to change up his own crowd-pleasing style.

“I feel like I prepped super well for Pantoja and the Pantoja that I’ve always seen,” Royval said. “He kind of pulled like a very championship-esque thing, he pulled off the gas compared to what he normally does. He normally doesn’t fight as calculated, he’s a caution-to-the-wind, kill-or-be-killed type of fighter, and I was a 100 percent ready for something like that, and he was very calculated in his approach. Very cautious, I would say, and I wasn’t prepared for a fight like that.

“I was prepared to go body to body, try to kill each other, all that, and he switched it up. I feel like that’s one thing that I’ve been missing in my game, is just changing it up on the fly. I felt like that was something he did really well in that fight.”

Having shared the octagon with both Pantoja and Moreno, Royval is one of only a few fighters qualified to comment on what it’s like to square off with two of the best flyweights of all time. The good news for Royval is that he expects Moreno to take the fight right to him, which is exactly what he wants.

“Pantoja, for sure,” Royval said when asked who the tougher opponent is. “I feel like Moreno does a lot of things that would benefit me. Him being in a Mexican crowd will influence to fight even harder. I feel like a lot of my losses have been kind of similar — people holding positions and controlling me and a lot of control time. A lot of my losses have been those kinds of decisions of just me getting controlled and out-positioned and all that stuff, where I don’t think Moreno’s that kind of fighter that wants to just control position. He’s going to try to do damage.

“Anybody that tries to do damage and to create space, that basically allows me to throw up submissions, allow me to get up, allow me to attack. I feel like that completely benefits my fighting style.”