Lone’er Kavanagh takes Brandon Royval loss lessons into UFC 333 bout

Kavanagh meets hard-hitting flyweight Ramazan Temirov in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Temirov is 3-0 in the UFC and holds a win over Charles Johnson, who beat Kavanagh in 2025.

By Combat Sports UK Staff · Published Fri 23 Oct, 21:15 UK · AI-assisted reporting

Post by @ufc on X

Lone’er Kavanagh says better decision-making is the main lesson from his third-round submission defeat to Brandon Royval. He takes on Ramazan Temirov on the main card of UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

The 27-year-old was unbeaten on the Cage Warriors circuit in England and reached the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series in 2024, with only seven professional fights behind him. After beating two unranked opponents, he faced Royval, Brandon Moreno and Charles Johnson in quick succession and won one of the three, an upset of the two-time UFC champion Moreno.

Looking back on the Royval fight, Kavanagh said: “It’s about decision making.” He added that he had rushed in places and made wrong choices elsewhere, and that he needed to learn from those mistakes.

Royval called Kavanagh a future champion after their fight. Kavanagh said he understood the comment but was not taking much comfort from it: “Brandon’s a nice guy. I do appreciate him saying that, but at the same time it didn’t go my way, so I focus on those things.” Temirov is unbeaten in three UFC fights. His latest was a knockout of Steve Erceg, a former title challenger, and he has also beaten Johnson.

Kavanagh said Temirov hits hard, comes forward and throws big looping punches, and he expects a contest between power and speed. He said: “I like to think I’ve got power in my hands as well, so it will be a good fight to watch.”

In this story

Lone’er Kavanagh Brandon Royval Ramazan Temirov Brandon Moreno Steve Erceg