Brandon Royval wanted to know why he was on the prelims at UFC Kansas City. Company president Dana White had an answer: “We f*cked this up.”
Yes, it was that simple. Ranked No. 4 in the UFC flyweight division, the second-highest ranked fighter on the card, and having earned three UFC Fight of the Night honors, how and why Royval was on the prelims is anybody’s guess. It certainly left Royval baffled and a good bit ticked off.
Brandon Royval was ticked off that he was on the prelims
“I’m a top-five guy in the division. I’m the second-highest ranked on this card. I’m the second-highest ranked on this entire card, and I’m on a prelim. It’s like, why?” Royval said after finishing Matheus Nicolau just over two minutes into the first round.
“It’s not like I’m a boring wrestler trying to wrestle f*ck these dudes. I go in for the finish, and I put myself in danger. I don’t need to be doing that. You saw me not do that today, but I went and put myself in danger in every single one of my fights, and I go make statements. Why am I on a f*cking prelim?”
Royval is 5-2 during his UFC tenure. Of those bouts, he’s only once went to a decision. He is always regarded as one of the more exciting fighters on any fight card. Poised to get a crack at the UFC flyweight championship, Royval makes a good point about being buried on the prelims when there could be a spotlight shining on him before a title bout happens.
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Dana White acknowledged ‘f*ck up’ and apologized
“He’s not wrong. He’s not wrong,” White said after Royval voiced his frustration at the UFC Kansas City post-fight press conference.
“Listen, we’re really good at what we do, but we f*ck up sometimes. I literally said in my green room, we f*cked this up. This kid should’ve opened the (UFC Kansas City main card).
“He’s right. We got a lot of moving parts, and unfortunately sometimes… when I got in here today and started looking around, I said, ‘Yeah, we f*cked this up. He’s right, sorry.”
Royval took home a UFC Kansas City Performance of the Night bonus after knocking out Nicolau.
Dana White answers Brandon Royval: ‘Yeah, we f*cked this up’