‘No way’: Alexandre Pantoja shuts down calls for him to move to bantamweight

UFC 310 Ceremonial Weigh-in — Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Alexandre Pantoja becoming a two-division champion? Don’t hold your breath.

UFC 317 features one fighter vying for that status as former featherweight king Ilia Topuria takes on Charles Oliveira for a vacant lightweight title in the main event. One fight before that, Pantoja goes for his fourth consecutive defense of his flyweight title when he takes on Kai Kara-France.

Should Pantoja get his hand raised again, he will undoubtedly hear renewed calls for him to consider moving up to 135 pounds to fight Merab Dvalishvili. But Pantoja is much more interested in the current crop of flyweight contenders.

“I’m super excited with that,” Pantoja said at UFC 317 media day on Wednesday. “People say, ‘You need to move on to bantamweight’ and no way, man. You have so many entertaining fights here. Joshua Van, that’s crazy. The guy, he grabbed The Golden Ticket from The Willy Wonka Factory, he have the ticket, that’s super crazy. If he gets past [Brandon] Royval, he’s the next in line. Of course, you have Kyoji [Horiguchi], you have some good names, Manel Kape’s there.

“I feel bad for Manel Kape, all the times he’s close to the belt, something happens. I know he’s a very good fighter, he has a lot of skills. I hope to fight with him in the future because he’s good. I want to fight with the best guys in the world, that’s what I like. That’s it.”

It’s not unreasonable for fans to want to see Pantoja change divisions for a new challenge.

The 35-year-old Brazilian has beaten the best of the best at flyweight, some of them twice including Brandon Moreno and Brandon Royval (even Kara-France is a rematch of sorts. Pantoja outpointed Kara-France in a two-round exhibition bout when they competed on The Ultimate Fighter).

There was such a shortage of fresh names available for Pantoja’s most recent title defense that RIZIN star Kai Asakura was given an immediate shot in his UFC debut. Still, Pantoja sees the glass as being half full for his potential challengers because any contender could be one or two impressive performances away from a championship opportunity.

“Last year, 2024, I think is the best year for flyweights and people start to appreciate much more that division,” Pantoja said. “Now you can say 10 names, 50 names from the flyweight division, and that’s so nice. I’m the champ of that and I can appreciate all that. All the fighters here from my division, guys call my name, and I give the hope for everybody because I don’t like to look cocky and say that, but I’ll clean my division. I fight with everybody before I get the belt. Now, everybody thinks they have a chance to fight.

“Everybody have hope, ‘Hey, maybe I’m next.’ I fought the guy No. 10, [Steve] Erceg, the guys bring me Asakura, now you have Kai Kara-France, now Joshua Van coming, Kyoji Horiguchi. That’s super nice.”

That said, Pantoja wanted to make it clear he would welcome a fight with Dvalishvili. The two are among the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, with MMA Fighting having them tied for the No. 3 spot on the P4P list.

Should they have to fight one day, Pantoja wonders if a special prize could be put on the line instead of one of their undisputed titles.

“Maybe create a ‘BMF’ for light guys, I don’t know,” Pantoja said. “I have huge respect for Merab. When [Sean] O’Malley said he stopped smoking, he stopped doing a lot of crazy things, to fight with Merab. Man, it doesn’t matter. Merab is a warrior. He passed through everything, like myself, and I have real respect about that. I think never O’Malley can beat Merab. He think he can make a difference, Merab made a difference: he submitted him.

“But of course, I want to fight the best fighters in the world. If I have the opportunity to fight Merab, of course, I’d accept. But it’s not something I really look for. I have my division, I’m super excited with that division.”

Addressing how he would match up with Dvalishvili, Pantoja responded that he has plenty of bulking up to do before that potential fight. Of course, he wouldn’t shy away from testing his grappling against the relentless Dvalishvili and he expects his sparring partners at American Top Team in Florida would be more than up to the task of preparing him for such an enormous challenge.

“I’m learning a lot from my losses and then that makes me a better fighter,” Pantoja said. “I think if Merab try to maybe take me down I can use that, I can use my grappling. I have very good jiu-jitsu. I have some guys in American Top Team, I have very good bantamweights at American Top Team, and I can make a very good training camp for him.

“But, of course, to go to 135, I need to get more pounds and everything. I don’t look for that right now. I have my division to protect, to defend, and I love to watch my division fight. Super entertaining fights. Best cardio in the UFC. In that division, you need to be good in all the situations, striker, grappler, and I love to fight in the flyweight division.”

‘No way’: Alexandre Pantoja shuts down calls for him to move to bantamweight

MMA Fighting – All Posts