Season 4 of Dana White’s Contender Series 4 has its first fight – and it’s a rematch of a nasty incident from 2018.
LFA flyweight champion [autotag]Brandon Royval[/autotag] will take on [autotag]Jerome Rivera[/autotag] at DWCS 27 – the season’s premiere. A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie after an initial report by Cageside Press.
The event takes place Tuesday, June 23, at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The event is expected to stream on ESPN+.
The first meeting between Royval (10-4 MMA) and Rivera (9-2 MMA) took place at LFA 39 in May 2018. It ended in an all-time gruesome highlight.
After Royval caught a kick, he pressured Rivera backward. Rivera pogo-sticked to the cage and extended his arm against the fence. As a result of Royval’s body weight and momentum, Rivera’s arm snapped.
Upon impact, Royval let go of the clinch and left a disabled Rivera to stumble across the cage. Bent at a horrendous angle, Rivera’s arm flopped backward. When Rivera reached the other side of the cage on the back pedal, he crumpled to the ground and the referee stepped in.
The two fighters were expected to rematch at LFA 78 in October 2019, but the event was canceled when AXS TV suddenly parted ways with the promotion.
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Since their first meeting, Royval has gone 3-1 and won the LFA title in 23 seconds in a November outing. As for Rivera, he’s won back-to-back fights since getting over the arm injury. After he submitted Gene Perez in February 2019, Rivera returned to LFA and submitted Kendrick Latchman in January 2020.
While Royval vs. Rivera 2 is the first confirmed fight for the upcoming season, MMA Junkie has confirmed a handful of other participants.
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