Alexandre Pantoja vs Brandon Royval Prediction: Long Belt Bout

On the evening of December 17th, UFC 296 will occur in the United States. Alexander Pantoja and Brandon Royval will fight for the featherweight title in the co-main event. Currently, Pantoja is the reigning champion, while Royval is second in the rankings (between them is former titleholder Brandon Moreno, who will be insuring this fight). In 2021, the fighters have already met. Alexander strangled his opponent in the second round. The fight received a bonus as "performance of the evening."

Alexander Pantoja has been in the UFC since 2017 and is in the leading roles almost all this time. Apart from the fact that the fight for the belt did not work out for a long time, he failed his main fights - Deiveson Figueiredo and Askar Askarov (both times by the judges' decision). But after that, the Brazilian drew conclusions and made an impressive breakthrough. First, he defeated Manel Kape, then he finished Brandon Royal and Alex Perez most brilliantly, and finally, in the belt bout, he won by split decision over Brandon Moreno. The fight with the latter was mostly on the feet. It was really close, but nobody had any questions for the judges. However, Royval didn't like this fight, or maybe he just decided to tease his future opponent.

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.

Brandon Royval

Brandon Royval is a former LFA champion, but he is unlikely to have much success in the UFC, being subjectively inferior to the top fighters in the division. He lost to Pantoja and Brandon Moreno without a chance. But now he is on a streak of three straight wins, the last two of which were early. Note that the opponents in those fights were no match for the guys above.

Royval says that he is the most technical fighter in the division. Still, one wouldn't know it from his bouts - he fights unconventionally, even a bit "sloppy," and defends himself from takedowns if the opponent is powerful. The key to Pantoja's success will be in the parterre, and sooner or later, one way or another, he will drag the opponent there. Maybe it'll end like their first fight, but more likely, he'll just dominate. Remember the first round of their last bout - we expect the same now, just until Royval makes a mistake or gets tired. But he's certainly capable of defending himself for at least one round.