VIDEO: Awesome knee to the chin! Even with the scalp of a Czech star, he made it to the top 5, but he won’t fight for the UFC title due to a tough finish

The UFC was in Kansas this weekend and the unnumbered card was full of quality fights. In one of them, the fight was apparently for the position of the next title challenger. Brazilian fighter Matheus Nicolau, who has defeated the likes of David Dvorak, wanted a title shot. But he crashed hard.

Four against five flyweights? Even such a fight can be found on the unnumbered UFC tournament only on the prelims card. Yet it was a fight that definitely deserved more attention.

Brandon Royval was featured as the number four contender for the bout that likely determined the next title challenger. Matheus Nicolau was the featherweight of his weight class.

Nicolau was riding a nice streak of six straight wins. In March 2022, he even faced Czech fighter David Dvorak on his way to the top five of the rankings, whom he defeated in a close fight on points.

But now the skilled Brazilian fighter has come up short against Royval, making it certain that he will have to wait a while for a possible title fight. For the American was able to time his knee perfectly on Nicolau’s chin and that was the beginning of the end.

The Brazilian was clearly and visibly shaken after the hard punch, he went down and there Royval had already unleashed a deadly series of punches that Nicolau had no chance of getting out of.

The fight was over in the first round, Royval only needed two minutes and nine seconds to win. He scored his third win in a row.

However, it is not yet known who his next opponent will be. Current champion Brandon Moreno is set to face challenger Alexander Pantoja at UFC 290 in July.

Source: UFC, Sherdog