Brandon Royval, the flyweight contender who has spent the last three to four years ranked inside the top five of the UFC division, revealed during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show that the promotion once passed on booking him for a main event slot because of his social media follower count.
Fresh off a third-round submission finish of Lone’er Kavanagh, Royval opened up about the moment he learned that follower numbers carry real weight inside the UFC’s booking decisions.
“As dumb as it sounds, having followers is such a big deal,” Royval said. “I remember they didn’t book me as a main event and the reasoning was like, whoever they boosted in front of me, they’re like, she has way more followers than you.”
Royval noted that the situation resolved itself, adding, “I’d pull out of that match anyway so it didn’t matter, but I was pissed.”
The revelation came during a conversation about Royval’s recent push to be more active online. He admitted he had been holding back content ideas for months without ever posting them, and that his recent win felt like the right time to change that.
“I just need to post more for sure and it’s like I already have like kind of funny thoughts and ideas, I just will never post it,” he said. “I was sitting on a handful of those for like months and I was like, ‘All right, well, I need to get like engagement.'”
Part of that new engagement came from a video featuring his girlfriend, which drew significant online attention after her face appeared on camera. Royval leaned into the attention, posting a follow-up that played off the wave of comments the clip generated.
“It was just funny because my girlfriend’s really shy and stuff too, so just having her kind of like be in the public eye for the first time was hilarious,” he said.
The response convinced Royval that consistent posting was worth the effort going forward. “I got to think of some funny stuff and keep posting, I guess,” he said.
For a star who has spent years competing against the very best in the flyweight division, learning that a booking decision could hinge on an Instagram follower count was not a welcome discovery. Royval appeared to take the lesson seriously, treating social media less like a side note and more like part of the job.
