Those odds may get longer if Pantoja retains his title, with the Brazilian having already bested Royval twice. But those negative thoughts don’t enter the mind of the 32-year-old. He’s all about winning, and if five years in the UFC have taught him anything, it’s that if the dubs keep coming, he’ll get what he deserves.
So all Royval is focusing on is Van and what happens when the Octagon door shuts at T-Mobile Arena. And he’s embracing that number one spot, something he wasn’t necessarily thinking about when he made his UFC debut against Tim Elliott in May of 2020.
RELATED: Significant Stats | UFC 317: Topuria vs Oliveira
“When I was walking out with Tim Elliott, I remember thinking that I was just happy to be there,” said Royval. “I was happy to get a t-shirt. (Laughs) I was happy to experience the UFC, and I was happy to just tell everybody that I made it. And I remember thinking it wasn’t going to be anything. I was going to be like, all right, I’m going to come here, hopefully win a fight. Maybe not. But I got the shirt and I made it to the UFC, and that’s cooler than anything I’ve ever known anybody else to do. So, in my head, I didn’t really have high expectations of myself. It took a while to finally just be like, all right, I think I’m one of the best in the world.”
All it took was that debut submission of Elliott and an equally thrilling finish of Kai Kara-France four months later as one of the most exciting in the world. But it was an ensuing three-fight winning streak that saw him beat Rogerio Bontorin, Matt Schnell and Matheus Nicolau that earned him a title shot and established him as one of the top flyweights in the world.
