Top UFC contender opens up on concussion scare: ‘I wasn’t formulating sentences well’

There’s a risk of concussion in a lot of sports. That includes MMA. Top UFC flyweight contender Brandon Royval can attest to that.

Royval, who is currently ranked No. 1 in his division, was set to fight the No. 6-ranked Manel Kape in an apparent title eliminator on March 1. However, that fight fell through at the last minute.

Soon after the fight was scrapped, Royval revealed it was because he was dealing with a bad concussion. More recently, in an interview with Inside Fighting, he shed more light on the issues he was facing.

 

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UFC star Brandon Royval talks “severe” concussion symptoms

One of the first issues Royval dealt with was a trouble forming sentences.

“My concussion was so severe that, originally, I wasn’t formulating sentences well,” he said. “I’d be in a conversation, and I’d be starting to talk, and I’d forget what I was saying mid-sentence. That was like the first week. That was the first bad symptom.”

Unfortunately, that’s not where the symptoms ended for Royval. He also had trouble with his vision. As he noted, that’s a real problem when you’re competing in MMA at the highest level, and need to see the punches and kicks coming your way.

“My eyes weren’t tracking,” the UFC flyweight said. “That was like the weirdest thing of all. If I was bouncing my eyes between things, I’d look this way, then I’d go look that way and it would like skip. I’d have a hard time finding it.

“My eyes need to be bouncing. I need to see everything. I need to be tracking pretty fluidly, really quick.

“That was the most ongoing symptom I had, on top of getting headaches constantly. I would get a headache like three times a day, off of any minor activity.”

The good news is that Royval is one the mend. In fact, his fight with Kape has been rescheduled. They’re now set to meet at UFC 317 on June 28. The winner will most likely be looking at a fight with reigning flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja.