Alexandre Pantoja Views Brandon Royval As Worthy Challenger
During an appearance on MMAFighting.com‘s “The MMA Hour,” Alexandre Pantoja didn’t pretend like he doesn’t view Brandon Royval as a worthy contender.
“Royval definitely deserves to fight for the belt,” Pantoja said on The MMA Hour. “It’s a guy coming off a few big wins. He knocked out Matheus Nicolau, a phenomenal fighter from Brazil. He finished Matt Schnell, and he [beat Rogerio Bontarin]. He deserves it. He’s fought with everybody in the top 10, he deserves to fight for the belt, and it’s a very good match in a very different moment for me.”
Pantoja then reflected on the situation with his personal life going into the first fight with Royval.
“When I fought Brandon Royval for the first time, that time I was driving [for] Uber, I had an injury in my knee, and that fight had a lot of emotion. I think at one point, all the emotion was very heavy, but I could use that. My mind that fight was 200 percent, very strong. Now it’s very different moment. He wants something that I have and I need to take care. Brandon Royval is very, very real dude. He’s a guy I need to be prepared for. I’m going to make a lot of money for that fight and I’m going to deserve all the [pay-per-view] points because I’m going to put on a very good show for everybody watching.”
