Brandon Royval is the backup for Van v Kape at UFC 336: 'It keeps me in the title picture'
Royval says he has been told nothing beyond the backup role, and he will make weight in case anybody pulls out of the flyweight title fight in Toronto.
Post by @arielhelwani on X
Brandon Royval says he is the backup for Joshua Van's UFC flyweight title defence against Manel Kape at UFC 336 in Toronto.
Asked on The Ariel Helwani Show whether he was the backup, Royval said: "Yeah, I'm the backup." He said he was "getting in shape right now" and would start losing weight after this week.
Royval said he was in "a weird situation" in the division: "The people in front of me beat me and then I beat everybody behind me pretty much." He said an injury had kept him out for longer than he expected, and that "a backup spot's for sure something I want" because fighters pull out and get hurt.
"At least it keeps me in the title picture for a little bit," he said. He added that it "gets me studying the champion and it gets me studying the contender for the championship."
"No, they haven't told me anything specific, just that I'm the backup," Royval said. He said a fight with Van "will always be on the table for me just because how good of a fight it was", and added: "I'm gonna make the weight and I'm gonna be ready if anybody pulls out."
Royval has already shared the cage with Van, who took that fight on short notice and has since won the title and beaten Alexandre Pantoja in their rematch. Asked for his pick, Royval said Kape would "knock him out" if the fight ends early, but that otherwise "Van is just so hard to pick against".
Royval beat Lone'er Kavanagh by third-round submission in July. Kavanagh stopped Ramazan Temirov at UFC 333 and said afterwards that he would step in as the backup for the same fight.
Van and Kape meet at the Scotiabank Arena on Saturday 30 January in Toronto. The main card starts at 2am UK time on Sunday 31 January, live on TNT Sports.
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Reported by the Combat Sports UK desk. Times are UK and Irish time, and we update the report when the facts change. How we work.