Ex-title challenger Brandon Royval was told by UFC he did not have enough followers to headline event

Brandon Royval has committed to posting more on social media due to how necessary it’s.

Royval recently defeated Lone’er Kavanagh to get back within the win column and prove that he’s still probably the greatest flyweights on this planet.

The hard-fought win saw ‘Raw Dawg’ earn his sixth Fight of the Night bonus, which is greater than another fighter in his weight class.

While Royval’s incredible wars with the likes of Joshua Van have made him a fan favorite, he’s needed to prove to the UFC that he can generate attention.

Brandon Royval recalls being told he wasn’t getting a fundamental event because Alexa Grasso had more followers

Brandon Royval earned double pay in defeat last 12 months as just one other example of him being probably the most consistently entertaining fighters on the roster.

When reflecting on his recent win, the previous flyweight title challenger was asked about his increased usage of social media.

He explained that he knows creating content and constructing a fan base is a very important a part of being a fighter, though this wasn’t all the time something he put much attention into.

Royval referenced how his social media following even cost him his first fundamental event spot back in 2022 after he put together consecutive wins.

“Having followers is such an enormous deal,” he said on The Ariel Helwani Show. “I remember they didn’t book me as a fundamental event and their reasoning was, I believe it was like Alexa Grasso, whoever they boosted in front of me, they were like, ‘She has far more followers than you.’”

Royval was referring to an event on the Apex that was headlined by Grasso facing off with Viviane Araujo.

His scheduled opponent for that card, Askar Askarov, ended up withdrawing on the day before the event because of issues along with his weight cut.

Royval said that he was “p—–” at being omitted on the time despite it not mattering ultimately because of his matchup being cancelled.

Royval, who currently has 149,000 followers on Instagram, has since headlined three Fight Night events.