The UFC’s current No.1 ranked flyweight contender Brandon Royval has withdrawn from his headlining fight with Manel Kape at UFC Fight Night 253 on March 1st due to suffering two separate concussions during training.
“First and foremost, I’ve fought so many times injured,” Royval said on YouTube. “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.
“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.”
There’s absolutely no doubt that Royval made the right decision here, and it would seem that the 32-year-old would be wise to now take an extended period away from sparring and fighting to truly give himself the best chance of recovering.
A former LFA flyweight champion, Royval has compiled a 7-3 run in the UFC since joining in 2020. He fought Alexandre Pantoja for the 125lb title in December of 2023, losing out by unanimous decision, but has since picked up back-to-back split-decision wins over Brandon Moreno and Tatsuro Taira to take the No.1 contender spot on the rankings.
