Pantoja vs. Royval planned for UFC Fight Night on Aug. 21
A battle of flyweight contenders is reportedly happening in August.
A fight between No. 3 and No. 6 in the flyweight division will reportedly happen at a UFC Fight Night planned for August. Alexandre Pantoja and Brandon Royval have verbally agreed to fight at the upcoming event on Aug. 21.
The news was first reported by Farah Hannoun and Nolan King of MMA Junkie and later confirmed by multiple media outlets. It has not been announced as official by the UFC at the time of this writing.
Pantoja has found plenty of success in the UFC since making his promotional debut in 2017 after appearing on the twenty-fourth instalment of The Ultimate Fighter the year prior. He has earned wins over Brandon Moreno, Wilson Reis and Matt Schnell as well as dropped decisions to Deiveson Figueiredo and Askar Askarov.
Pantoja most recently returned to the win column with an unanimous decision win over former RIZIN champion Manel Kape at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Volkov in February.
Royval fought three times in 2020, which saw him go 2-1 in the Octagon. He began his UFC career with two ‘Fight of the Night’ awarded performances after submitting Tim Elliot and Kai Kara-France in back-to-back appearances at UFC on ESPN: Woodley vs. Burns and UFC 253.
Royval looked to make it three straight when he met Brandon Moreno in a No. 1 contender’s fight at UFC 255, but lost by way of technical knockout in the first round.
The UFC Fight Night in August does not currently have a location or venue set. It does not have a main event either, but there has been other fights announced for this card. More information will be made available in the coming weeks.
The lineup is now at four with the addition of Pantoja vs. Royval:
- Fabio Cherant vs. William Knight
- Austin Hubbard vs. Vinc Pichel
- Chase Sherman vs. Parker Porter