Alexandre
Pantoja is eyeing a future dream fight against Demetrious
Johnson after his latest title defense.
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Pantoja recently defended his flyweight title with a unanimous
decision win over Steve Erceg
in the main event at UFC
301 UFC 301. Having successfully defended his strap for the
second time, Pantoja believes he can make a case for a matchup
against the former
Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight champ and MMA GOAT
contender. If a fight doesn’t come to fruition, “The Cannibal” is
also content with a hard sparring session against Johnson.
“Yeah, he’s the GOAT you know, how I can not say that? I think
right now after two title defense I can speak a little bit about
that. Because I have a huge respect for Demetrious
Johnson. I can’t try to compare myself with him. And right now,
I can say something you know, more coins to put on the table,”
Pantoja said on “The MMA Hour”.
“And I think that’s dream for me. I don’t like to say I have dreams
because I want to live everything I have in my life. I think [to]
live is better than [to] dream. But if I dream about something,
it’s to fight with Demetrious
Johnson. I have all respect for him. If he don’t want to fight,
maybe I go to the gym and training with him, make hard
sparring.”
Johnson’s flyweight title reign was arguably the most dominant in
UFC history. Pantoja believes Johnson can still replicate the
highlights of his career.
“I think he can do it what he did before,” Pantoja said. “Because
the new names in the MMA [are] so different year after year, I
don’t know if you [everyone] can do the same… It’s like if you
question [if] Anderson
Silva wanted to fight Vitor
Belfort again, he don’t want to fight because he can’t [do]
that kick again, or Conor
McGregor with Jose Aldo, he
can’t repeat that exhibition. I think Demetrious can [do] that
again. And that’s why I think he not come back. But it’s gonna be a
dream for me to fight with him.”
While Pantoja had his hand raised at UFC 301, Erceg gave the champ
a run for his money. “Mighty Mouse” wasn’t impressed with Pantoja’s
performance and voiced his thoughts on his YouTube channel.
Johnson believes the champ can be dethroned by a more-experienced
version of Erceg or by undefeated contender Muhammad
Mokaev.