Brandon Royval in Disbelief as Joshua Van Desperately Saves UFC 317 After Manel Kape’s Foot Fracture

Just weeks out from UFC 317, Brandon Royval thought he had his opponent locked in. A showdown with Manel Kape was set for June 28 at the T-Mobile Arena, part of a stacked card during International Fight Week. But behind the scenes, trouble was brewing. Then came the news that flipped the script: Kape had reportedly fractured his foot during sparring at the Xtreme Couture gym and was out of the fight.

Enter Joshua Van. The 23-year-old flyweight phenom had just gone to war with Bruno Silva at UFC 316 and won by TKO. And immediately afterwards, he agreed to step in and face one of the division’s toughest contenders on short notice. It’s a bold move, and even Royval had to admit, he couldn’t believe how impressively Van is living up to his nickname, ‘The Fearless’!

Brandon Royval gives a nod to “real” Joshua Van as he’s left dealing with an opponent change for UFC 317

In a video shared on his Instagram account, Brandon Royval began by stating, “Yo. What’s up y’all? Manel Kape is out. Joshua Van is stepping in. I have zero idea on, like, the extent of Manel Kape’s injuries, but I do know that I have the hottest prospect and probably the most exciting UFC flyweight in front of me.”

That’s no exaggeration. Joshua Van is on a 4-fight win streak and boasts a 29% KO/TKO rate in the UFC so far. While that may not seem like much, in the flyweight division, knockouts are rare, and technical boxers with dynamite in their fists like Van? Even rarer.

But he’s never faced someone like Royval, an experienced contender who knows what it takes to get to the top of the division, as he’s currently the no. 1 ranked flyweight in the UFC.

As such, ‘Raw Dawg’ continued with, “So, really nothing changes for me as far as, like, what’s in front of me. I got a gangster that’s ready to take my head off and earn his name off of me.  So appreciate the matchup, and then also just excited to f— one, just be in what I think is probably most exciting matchup in the flyweight division and be aligned on the same flyweight title card as, as Pantoja and Kai Kara-France.”

However, one fan in the comments for the post brought up an interesting point. Joshua Van just fought at UFC 316, and he’s now ready to make a turnaround in just 3 weeks to take on a former title challenger? According to Royval, “dudes as real as it comes”

That’s the fight game. And Royval knows the stakes, especially with this bout sharing the spotlight with two title fights at UFC 317, Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira for lightweight gold and Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Kara-France for the flyweight strap. With Kape out and the card nearly finalized, Van’s last-minute leap into the fire speaks volumes. It’s a high-risk, high-reward gamble for both fighters.

For Brandon Royval, it’s a chance to show he still belongs at the top. For Van, it’s the ultimate test, and perhaps, the biggest spotlight of his young career. But while the focus has shifted to these two warriors, what about Manel Kape?

Manel Kape shares gruesome injury footage online as he confirms the “foot fractures” reports

Just weeks before his UFC 317 return, Manel Kape suffered a brutal foot fracture during sparring. And the moment? It was caught on video as ‘Starboy’ shared the update on Instagram, writing, “I suffered a foot fracture during the training &, after medical evaluation, I was instructed to have surgery & focus 100% on recovery.”

The video shows Kape throwing a leg kick at his sparring partner with his right foot. And despite him wearing protective shin pads, what followed was a sickening sound that could be heard in the clip, too. The pain was instant. The damage, undeniable.

Kape further wrote, “It’s not easy to stay out of something I’ve been preparing for with so much dedication, and without a doubt this would be the most advantageous fight of my career but I understand that this is just another challenge on the way and I trust the plans that Allah has for me.”

He’s not wrong about this being an “advantageous” fight, as a win over Royval could have launched him into title contention. But now, he’ll be watching from the sidelines as Van steps into the very spot he was gunning for. This marks the 11th time one of Kape’s UFC fights has been scrapped, a streak of misfortune that few fighters can relate to. But to his credit, he’s always bounced back.

Since his loss to Muhammad Mokaev at UFC 304, Kape has scored two straight wins, one by knockout, the other a main event victory at UFC Vegas 103.  With a fractured foot and yet another scrapped fight on his record, Kape now becomes a spectator in the very event he was training for. But as one door closed, another burst open, and Joshua Van sprinted right through it!

The post Brandon Royval in Disbelief as Joshua Van Desperately Saves UFC 317 After Manel Kape’s Foot Fracture appeared first on EssentiallySports.