Brandon Royval withdrew from a fight this past month due to some worrying health updates that required some time away from the gym.
‘Raw Dawg’ was set to face Manel Kape on March 1 with ‘Starboy’ going on to beat Asu Almabayev in a dominant and somewhat controversial display.
Both men are in the title picture but signs are now pointing towards Kai Kara-France challenging Alexandre Pantoja for the flyweight belt at UFC 317.
Royval had previously stated that he’d pulled out of the fight due to suffering lasting symptoms from a concussion which forced him to make a big call.
The pair have now been rebooked for International Fight Week on June 28 with the former title challenger now providing more details about his recent struggles.
Brandon Royval reveals he was having speech and focus issues after suffering a concussion
In a recent interview with Inside Fighting, Brandon Royval went into more details about the health issues he was dealing with in and around the cancellation of his fight with Manel Kape.
The 32-year-old previously stated in a video on his YouTube channel that after getting a concussion several months ago, he eased off the gas for a while to recover but after starting his camp for March 1, he suffered another one.
Royval said that after dealing with the symptoms for a week, he decided that the best move would be to push his return back rather than going into the fight with this concern hanging over him.
He has now explained exactly what the symptoms he was battling were and how he was impacted significantly more than any regular concussion that he has had in the past.
Royval said his speech, focus, reactions and memory were all affected, meaning that if he didn’t pull out of the fight when he did, he certainly would’ve before stepping inside the Octagon.
“I believe that there’s levels of concussion…that’s just facts,” Royval said. “You can get minor headaches, all that stuff. My concussion was so severe that like, originally I wasn’t formulating sentences well. I wasn’t like, recalling — me and you would be having a conversation, I’d start to talk, and I would forget what I was saying mid-sentence. That was the first week.
“My eyes weren’t tracking. That was the weirdest thing of all,” Royval continued. “If I was bouncing my eyes between things…I would have a hard time finding (what I was trying to look at). … Being a flyweight, being in the UFC, being in any sport, my eyes need to be bouncing. I need to be seeing everything.”
Royval went on to say that after working with the UFC PI and some neurologists, he was able to make some significant changes to make a recovery.
Brandon Royval wasn’t going to open up about his concussion issues
Brandon Royval has been incredibly open and honest about his concussion issues which is very rare to see from an active fighter.
He stated in the same interview that this wasn’t his plan all along because he didn’t want people to jump to any false conclusions.
“I don’t think high-level athletes talk about it and it’s like one of those things that’s super common in the sport and it was one of those things that I was gonna hide. I remember thinking like, ‘I’m not telling anybody about a concussion because I don’t want anybody to think anything and I don’t want any assumptions going around.’”
Ultimately, Royval decided that being completely up front about his health was the best move for his health and career ahead of his return at UFC 317.
“I just wanted to be super open about this one because I feel like I don’t want to be a stuttering man. I don’t want to be 40-years-old stuttering or 50-years-old stuttering and just not being able like, I have a life after this. I have a career that I want after this.”
