LAS VEGAS – Brandon Royval always seems to find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that was the case again one week prior to his UFC Fight Night 244 main event.

Ahead of Saturday’s flyweight headliner against Tatsuro Taira (16-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas (ESPN+), former title challenger Royval (16-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) attended UFC 307 in Salt Lake City to help corner his good friend and teammate Alexander Hernandez, who defeated Austin Hubbard by unanimous decision in a short-notice affair.

Following his victory, Hernandez revealed to reporters backstage that his day had been traumatic. He was taking a fight-morning walk with his team and they encountered a dangerous situation in the form of a fatal shooting. According to a Salt Lake City Police Department report, the suspect, since arrested and identified as 49-year-old Farshad Hassan-Puori, allegedly shot and killed 30-year-old Gage Barrow.

Royval was part of the group with Hernandez when the incident unfolded, and according to Hernandez, it was Royval who actually ran toward the danger and “chased down the shooter,” but to no avail.

A week later, Royval said he’s not overly keen to relive the experience. However, he admits it was a lot to endure, and he’s particularly proud of Hernandez for being able to compartmentalize and still go into the octagon and win at UFC 307 that same day.

“I don’t really care to talk about it too much because someone died, but at the end of the day, there was a shooting that happened in Utah,” Royval told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “It happened pretty much right in front of us. I guess the only thing that matters at the end of the day is we’ve seen some crazy sh*t. Alex had locked in. Won his fight. Kudos to him on that, and it’s a lot to deal with first thing in the morning. It was like 11 a.m. My boy had to report a couple hours later and pretty much anything that could go wrong on that walk, did go wrong.”

Considering he is a professional fighter, Royval isn’t exactly in the business of self-preservation. He said danger and drama seem to be routine occurrences in his life, and that’s the only explanation he could give about deciding to run toward the shooter and crime scene rather than flee for safety.

“I can’t really speak to anybody or speak to anybody else, but I felt like I’ve found myself in a lot of sh*tty situations, and I’ve been around a lot of sh*t that happens,” Royval said. “I feel like I’m a little bit of a sh*t magnet. So I’m not really unfamiliar with some weird sh*t like that. But not necessarily a shooting like that, but I did CPR like a week before on another dude in a car accident. So it’s been a crazy month. I would stay as far away from me as possible to be completely honest. It’s been a crazy month. I’ve been threatened by crackheads, done CPR, been in a car accident, and the f*cking shooting and seeing someone die. Anyways. Probably stay away from me this week.”

One person who won’t be able to stay away from Royval all week is Taira, because they will be locked in the octagon for five scheduled rounds with significant title stakes in the 125-pound division. Royval is ready for it and prepared for a grueling, brutal battle.

“When it’s fight time, we’re actually going to go for it,” Royval said. “You’re going to see two killers try to kill.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 244.

Brandon Royval got an offer to face Kai Asakura at UFC 305 in Perth, but he ultimately turned it down.

Now, Royval will face Tatsuro Taira in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Vegas 98 fight card at the UFC APEX. “Raw Dawg” says the fight with the former RIZIN bantamweight champion excited him, but if he was going to make the 10,000-mile trek, it needed to be worth his while.

“They offered me that fight in Australia,” Royval told MMA Fighting. “I asked them for more money, I asked for a handful of stuff, and they said no. And then I asked them for one of any of those things, and they said no. And I was like, all right, well, then I’m not gonna go f*cking fight some dude, not in the UFC, for not much money, all the way across the [world] where I’m not getting any sleep. I’m not getting any of this, I’m not getting a guaranteed title shot, I’m not getting any more money.

“I got to bring my whole team out there if I’m going to go out there because I need to get my Arcadian rhythm in cycle. So it’s like I got to fly out my whole team and guys that look like Kai Asakura. So it was one of those [things where] financially [it] doesn’t make sense to me. And then it also, like, the risk doesn’t [exceed] the reward. If I go out there and lose, I just lost somebody without a ranking, and if I go out there and win, they’re not guaranteeing me a title shot or anything. So there was really no reward in that.”

The 32-year-old Royval is set to make his 10th octagon appearance, and does so in his second consecutive Fight Night headliner. In December Royval came up short in his first opportunity at UFC gold, losing a unanimous decision to Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 296. With his future unknown following the loss, Royval jumped on the opportunity to face past opponent Brandon Moreno on short notice in the main event of UFC Mexico City, and went on to get the victory via split decision.

With well over four years in the promotion, and being the UFC’s current top-ranked 125-pounder, Royval has learned, and understood, that when you’re in that position, the juice needs to be worth the squeeze — even for a fan-friendly fight against Asakura.

“Dude, I think of myself like, bro, I’m a prostitute for sure,” Royval explained. “I put my body on the line for money. But it’s at this point [that] I f*cking earned my No. 1 spot. I fought my ass off. I’m No. 1 in the world. So I’m an expensive prostitute. I’m not a cheap ass prostitute anymore. I’m not just selling my body to anybody who we’ll take it.

“I f*cking I got a price on me, and I’m not just f*cking anybody, you know what I’m saying? I still believe in my heart of hearts I’m the most exciting fighter in the flyweight division. Anytime my fights haven’t been exciting, It wasn’t because of me.”

Asakura signed with the UFC earlier this year following a stoppage win over former Bellator champ Juan Archuleta at RIZIN 45 this past New Year’s Eve. The 30-year-old has still yet to make his promotional debut.

Should he defeat Taira on Saturday, Royval would love to get his chance to avenge the loss to the champion. But if not, he would love to face Asakura, and maybe do so if the UFC returns to Japan in 2025.

“I don’t know, I really don’t know,” Royval said. “I want to fight for a belt. But that being said is like, if they’re not gonna give me a belt and it’s like, I think I have a win over the whole top five of the division, I don’t know what else you guys want, motherf*cker.

“But damn, yeah, I kinda wanna fight Kai Asakura in Japan. Japan is a dream. Kai Asakura is sick. That gets me out of bed, and I want to fight for a f*cking belt. If they want to hype Kai, then I want to take that.”

LAS VEGAS – Dana White doubts Conor McGregor turned down Justin Gaethje multiple times.

According to Gaethje’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, McGregor has said no to fighting Gaethje on five different occasions in past years. McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) and Gaethje (25-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) have traded barbs in the past but never fought each other.

“He (McGregor) got offered this fight at least five times,” Abdelaziz told Submission Radio. “He never wanted to have to do anything with Justin Gaethje. He said the reason he didn’t want to fight Justin was because Justin talked bad to him on Twitter and Instagram before, and the history we have with him. He didn’t want to lose to our team, I guess.

“Even the UFC told me this. ‘Hey, leave him alone. Don’t talk with him. He doesn’t like to fight people who talk bad to him on the internet. I promise you. He likes to be the one to start the talk and you retaliate.’ Why do you think (Michael) Chandler’s being so nice to him? Why? Because he was being told not to talk bad to Conor.”

White was asked about those allegations, and based on his history with McGregor, the UFC CEO doesn’t think that’s something he would do. White recounted the time McGregor agreed to fight Chad Mendes on short notice after Jose Aldo pulled out of their UFC 189 fight due to a broken rib.

”I don’t know if that’s true,” White said Tuesday during the Dana White’s Contender Series 75 post-fight news conference at the UFC Apex. “I’ve said this many times, and I’ll say it again: I mean, we actually have video footage of Lorenzo and I walking into his house that he (McGregor) was renting here. He just woke up, telling him that the fight fell out, and he’s literally leaving going, ‘Well, I’m going to train, let me know who I’m fighting when I get back.’ We’ve never had those kind of issues with Conor McGregor ever.”

McGregor is yet to return since breaking his leg in a TKO loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021. He was booked to face Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June but withdrew due to a broken pinky toe. Chandler has since moved on and is scheduled to rematch Charles Oliveira in the UFC 309 co-main event on Nov. 16 in New York.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 75.

Former Republic of Ireland striker Stephanie Zambra has announced her retirement from football.

The 35-year-old won 58 Republic of Ireland caps and scored 14 international goals.

Under her maiden name Roche, she went viral in 2013 after scoring a superb goal for Peamount United against Wexford Youths.

The goal, which saw her twice flick the ball before volleying it into the top corner, saw her finish second in the Puskas Award the following year behind Colombia’s James Rodriguez.

After featuring for a number of clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Zambra had stints with ASPTT Albi in France, Houston Dash in the USA, Sunderland and Fiorentina.

She returned home in 2020 with Peamount and signed for Shamrock Rovers in 2022.

Her final match will be Shamrock Rovers’ final league game of the season against Shelbourne on Saturday.

“From kicking a ball around the streets of Shanganagh Cliffs to scoring goals for my country, I can truly say that football has given me enough memories to last a lifetime,” Zambra posted on social media.

“I hope that I’ve been able to inspire girls and show that dreams can come true with a bit of luck, lot of persistence and the self belief that you are good enough to become the best version of yourself.”

Antonio Trocoli was arrested this past Friday on misdemeanor battery charges in Huntington Beach, Calif., following an incident allegedly involving Mackenzie Dern’s ex-husband, Wesley Santos.

Huntington Beach police confirmed the UFC fighter’s arrest in an email to MMA Fighting on Wednesday.

“A subject by the name of Antonio Trocoli da Silveira Filho was arrested by the Huntington Beach Police Department on Oct. 4, 2024, at approximately 8:30 a.m. in the 8700 block of Dolphin Street, Huntington Beach,” Huntington Beach police said in a statement. “He was arrested for misdemeanor battery, and the case has been sent to the Orange County District Attorney’s Officer for review.”

At this time, the Orange County district attorney’s office has not officially brought a case against the fighter following his arrest. Messages for further details on the case were not returned at the time of publication.

While police weren’t able to provide any further details on Trocoli’s arrest, Santos—a professional surfer who was previously married to Dern and shares a daughter with her—claims he was the victim in the battery.

Santos sent a statement to MMA Fighting about the alleged incident while also claiming that a video exists that captured the altercation from this past Friday.

“Mackenzie Dern is my ex-wife and after our divorce she married Antonio ‘Malvado’ Jose Trocoli da Silveira Filho,” Santos said. “We divorced and have shared custody of our daughter Moa, but Antonio never stopped following me. We had a deal that he would not be part of the custody but he was always nearby, threatening and disturbing in every custody change. He sent messages through Moa, saying he would beat me up, and Moa told me clearly.

“I dropped my daughter at school this past Friday and was going back home on a skateboard when I saw a white car stop, and I started recording. It was Antonio. He got out of the car and punched me, and the car kept moving [along], and he ran back inside the car. Cops were called, there were several witnesses, and Antonio was arrested for battery.”

Trocoli is yet to address the incident or arrest publicly.

The Brazilian fighter was actually signed and then released from the UFC back in 2019 after his Contender Series win was overturned to a no-contest when he tested positive for a banned substance. Trocoli eventually came back to the UFC with his debut back in June when he fell to Shara Magomedov. He is currently scheduled to fight Tresean Gore at a UFC Fight Night event scheduled for Nov. 9.

Khalil Rountree expects a big fight after falling short in his valiant effort vs. Alex Pereira.

Rountree (13-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) was awarded the first two rounds of his light heavyweight title fight vs. champion Pereira in Saturday’s UFC 307 headliner before getting finished in Round 4. Rountree suffered a lot of damage in the fight, resulting in nose surgery, but his incredible heart won many fans over.

Prior to getting his title fight with Pereira, Rountree was booked to face former champion Jamahal Hill (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) at UFC 303 in June but withdrew due to a failed drug test that was blamed on a tainted supplement. Rountree thinks rescheduling his fight against Hill makes sense.

“Absolutely, I think it’s almost inevitable,” Rountree told Kevin Iole of fighting Hill. “I think he’s ranked No. 3. Anyone up there in the top five is kind of inevitable. So, let’s see what happens. Pretty shortly here, I’ll be talking to the matchmakers and the bosses and see what they think.

“I’m here for it all, I’m not done. I’m going to continue, and I believe that I’ll have another chance at fighting for a belt. Whether it’s Alex or whoever else, if someone’s able to take it from him. I think that fight can definitely still happen.”

Rountree revealed that he signed a new contract with the UFC prior to facing Pereira and still has plenty of fights left in him. After undergoing septoplasty surgery for a “severely deviated septum,” Rountree hopes to return early next year.

“I’m very excited to come back and fight again, but it will probably be Q1 next year,” Rountree said. “I know that people got to see me fight, but this really showed me two things: It showed me that I’m prepared to fight at that level, but it also showed me that there’s a lot to learn and there’s a lot to grow. I want to come back and be very skillful and strategic and just make sure that I make the right decisions.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.