Brandon Royval has spoken out after suffering a first-round knockout defeat to Manel Kape at UFC Vegas 112.
Royval was hoping to bounce back from a unanimous decision loss to current UFC Flyweight Champion Joshua Van. It wasn’t meant to be, as Kape dropped Royval and finished him with ground-and-pound this past Saturday. Kape has now elevated his status as a potential title contender.
Royval doesn’t appear to be deterred by the loss, as he hopped on his Instagram account to make it clear that he plans to rebound.
“Thank you for all who checked up on me, sad about the loss but my health is OK and live to fight another day,” Royval wrote.
As for Kape, he is eager to get back inside the Octagon. He hopes that he will be fighting for gold in his next outing.
“As soon as possible. As soon as possible. As soon as possible,” Kape said. “I want to have this feeling again. What I’m feeling right now, I want to have this feeling because the fight is not over. The celebration is going to be when I have my belt, then I’ll have the celebration. So as soon as possible. UFC wants to book me, I’ll be there, I’ll show up, and I will win and get the belt. I have no injuries, the fight was fast, so I’m ready to go again.”
UFC now has two viable challengers in the flyweight division. Aside from Kape, Tatsuro Taira has also emerged as a strong candidate to face Van next. What the promotion will decide to do next remains to be seen, but it isn’t a bad situation to be in if you’re a matchmaker.
BJPenn.com will keep you updated on the latest with the UFC flyweight title picture in the coming weeks and months.