Brandon Royval holds a dismissive opinion of Muhammad Mokaev.
Following his split decision victory over former champion Brandon Moreno at UFC Mexico City in February, Royval immediately sought a rematch with UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja. However, challenges arose as Pantoja had recently defeated Royval in December with a dominant unanimous decision. Additionally, emerging contender Mokaev entered the scene.
“Maybe he beat Alex Perez, maybe not. He could be Alex Perez’s only win over a current UFC fighter. That being said, I don’t think it warrants a title fight. I didn’t think it was very impressive. After the first round it just seemed like he was done for. It is what it is. I just didn’t think it was that impressive.
“Any time I watch that kid fight I’m like, ‘This s*** is lame. This is boring.’ It is what it is. He started off the first round kind of strong or whatever, but that being said — by the time he fights again, I always forget what he brings to the table. Then I watch and like, ‘Oh yeah, this kid’s f****** boring.’ I get amnesia.”
While Mokaev is keen on a title shot, he also expressed interest in addressing the apparent tension with Royval. Responding to Royval’s criticism, Mokaev proposed a fight in July when the UFC returns to Manchester, England. Despite Royval’s primary focus on securing another title shot, he remains open to the possibility of facing Mokaev, especially if it involves a main event.
“I think it goes very well. I love that matchup. That’s not a fight I would ever turn down. That fight has never been offered to me. That being said, me and him are both trying to take aim at the title fight, so if one of us is going to get it, so be it. But we’ve been hyping up a fight for about a year now, so when that time comes, if one of us has a belt, or one of us doesn’t have a belt, if that’s a five-round fight, he’s dead.
“I prefer to fight anybody in a 25-minute fight. Anybody in this division in a 25-minute fight, I’m very confident … because 15 minutes, you can nullify a position for 15 minutes. You can squeeze out two rounds for sure and then maybe hold me down. I’ve never been the strongest fighter so I have been nullified before. I feel like that’s most of my losses. Twenty-five minutes, it’s really hard to do.”
The current flyweight title picture in the UFC is somewhat unclear, making it uncertain whether the promotion will pursue a matchup between Royval and Muhammad Mokaev. Regardless of whether it’s Alexandre Pantoja or Mokaev, Royval believes he has done everything possible to position himself for success, and now he awaits the unfolding of events in the division.
“I have no clue [what’s going to happen]. I feel like I did everything I could do. I went and took the short notice against Moreno, the No. 1 contender. I feel like if he would have won that fight, they were for sure going to give it to him no matter what. That being said, I don’t know if the situation changes because of who I am and who Moreno is.”
