Brandon Royval says he will act as the official backup fighter for the UFC 336 flyweight title main event between Joshua Van and Manel Kape on January 30 in Toronto.
The Story
Brandon Royval will serve as the official backup fighter for the UFC 336 main event between Joshua Van and Manel Kape, according to Royval’s comments delivered in a conversation with Ariel Helwani.
Royval told Helwani, “I'm the backup... At least it keeps me in the title picture for a little bit, and it gets me studying the champion and the contender for the championship. Hopefully it's in the eyes of the…,” as shown in a clip posted to Helwani’s X account on November 11, 2026.
UFC 336 is scheduled for January 30 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The headliner will see Van attempt to defend his UFC men’s flyweight championship for a third time against Kape.
Van won the flyweight title at UFC 323 after Alexandre Pantoja suffered an arm injury just 26 seconds into their bout, and Van later defended the belt in an intense fight with Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328 during Pantoja’s recovery period.
More recently, Van returned Pantoja to the Octagon at UFC 331 and earned a unanimous decision victory two months before UFC 336.
Kape is coming in as the next challenger, having knocked out four consecutive opponents and already exchanged intense back-and-forth with Van on social media.
If the Van–Kape fight were to fall through for any reason, Royval would be ready to step in and rematch one of the two fighters at UFC 336.
Royval, a former LFA champion, joined the UFC in 2020 and began his UFC career with back-to-back submissions of Tim Elliott and Kai Kara-France.
After losses to Brandon Moreno and Pantoja, Royval put together a three-fight winning streak that set up his first UFC title shot at UFC 296.
Royval’s record included a rematch where he dropped a decision to Pantoja in their UFC 296 co-main event, followed by a split decision win over Moreno, and a loss later that year for Taira—Royval’s first professional loss to Taira came during that run.
The 34-year-old suffered back-to-back losses to both Van and Kape in 2025, but returned to the win column earlier in 2026 when he submitted Lone’er Kavanagh at UFC 329 in a bout that was described as a “Fight of the Night” performance.
UFC 336’s co-main event is Carlos Prates vs. Michael Morales for the interim UFC welterweight championship.
Serhiy Sidey is also listed to fight Louis Lee Scott at UFC 336.
← More stories