Brandon Royval vs. Matt Schnell Booked for UFC 274 on May 7

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Two top-10 Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweights will battle it out this May.

On Thursday, Brandon Royval (13-6) officially had his next fight announced, courtesy of his team of the Iridium Sports Agency. On May 7, “Raw Dawg” will throw down with Matt Schnell (15-5, 1 NC) in what could be a thrilling flyweight contest on UFC 274. The destination of that event is still uncertain, other than that it will take place in the U.S. Earlier in the day, another fight was also announced for this event, coming by way of ESPN Deportes, which broke the news that Fernando Garcia (10-1) will take on Journey Newson (9-3, 1 NC) on the prelims.

Since joining the promotion in 2020, Royval has put on thrilling performances against the likes of Tim Elliott, Kai Kara France and Rogerio Bontorin, winning each of those matchups. He has also fallen short to former champ Brandon Moreno and tapped out to a choke from Alexandre Pantoja on his way up the division. The Factory X fighter sports a finish rate of 85% as a pro, which comes high in a weight class that presents a lower stoppage rate than some of their heavier counterparts.

Schnell’s last opponent was also Bontorin, and that night he dropped a unanimous verdict to the Brazilian. There were a few major caveats to the losing performance: the fight took place up a division at bantamweight, Bontorin still missed weight, and Bontorin subsequently failed a post-fight drug test for a banned diuretic to overturn the result to a no contest. As a result, Schnell has only lost once in his last seven outings, with that coming to the aforementioned Pantoja. “Danger” has topped the likes of Tyson Nam, Jordan Espinosa and Naoki Inoue as he moved through the flyweight category, while also beating Louis Smolka at 135 pounds.

UFC 274 is coming on May 7 at an undetermined venue, but it will bring with it a pair of highly anticipated title fights. Serving as the main event is a light heavyweight battle between Glover Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka. The co-headliner will see Charles Oliveira take on Justin Gaethje. Other fights that may be placed on the main card include a featherweight clash between Norma Dumont and Macy Chiasson, and a lightweight scrap between veterans as Donald Cerrone faces Joe Lauzon.