Brandon Royval has gone into detail on why he withdrew from his scheduled UFC Fight Night main event against Manel Kape early next month.
The former title challenger is riding a two-fight win streak following his loss to flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja. With Royval out, Kape will now face Asu Almabayev on March 1 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Royval revealed that consecutive concussions forced him to prioritize his health and pull out of the fight, a decision he discussed on his YouTube channel.
“Maybe a couple months back, I had a concussion,” Royval said. “I was just playing it safe, playing it smart. A couple weeks later, when I was recovered, I accepted this fight, which was awesome. 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,” Royval continued. “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 — 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.”
