Brandon Royval is staying ready for another UFC title opportunity.
Joshua Van (18-2 MMA, 11-1 UFC) defends his flyweight title against Manel Kape (23-7 MMA, 8-3 UFC) in the UFC 336 main event on Jan. 30 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto (Paramount+).
According to Royval (18-9 MMA, 8-5 UFC), he will be weighing in as the official backup for the title fight.
"I'm the backup," Royval said on "The Ariel Helwani Show." "I'm getting in shape right now, starting to lose weight after this week. And yeah, we'll see. ... If it ends early, I think Kape will knock him out, and if it doesn't, I think Van is just so hard to pick against that he can get it done."
Royval suffered back-to-back losses to Van and Kape, but rebounded with a big submission win over Lone'er
Kavanagh, who is also in the title race. Former title challenger Royval explains why he finds himself in a quandary.
"I don't know what else I'm going to do," Royval said. "I'm in a weird situation where it's like, the people in front of me beat me, and then I beat everybody behind me pretty much. So, I'm kind of waiting for a few fights to shape out before I can even have an opponent. I thought Asu (Almabayev) was a really good callout that I can get. I didn't expect this injury to take me out for as long as it has.
"And I mean, the backup spot is for sure something I want because there are chances that people pull out of fights, and there are chances that someone gets hurt or whatever it is. So, it's a situation that at least keeps me in the title picture for a little bit, and it gets me studying the champion and it gets me studying the contender for the championship. So, it's like I'm on the right path, and I'm setting myself kind of aligned with them."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Brandon Royval says he's UFC 336 backup for Joshua Van vs. Manel Kape
