After Alex
Pereira lost to Magomed
Ankalaev at UFC
313Alexandre Pantoja was left as the only Brazilian holding a
UFC belt.
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This week, the reigning flyweight king was in Brazil for the launch
of the new UFC Fight Pass documentary “Long Story Short,” which
stars Pantoja and middleweight contender Caio
Borralho. The launch event will be closed to the press on
Wednesday in Sao Paulo.
Before heading to São Paulo, however, Pantoja stopped by his
hometown of Rio de Janeiro, where he spoke with Sherdog.com about
his expectations for his return to the Octagon and also about the
UFC return of his great friend and training partner, Kyoji
Horigushi.
“I was really happy with Kyoji’s return. When they hired Kai
Asakura, I even joked that they hired the wrong Japanese guy,”
revealed the champion. “Jokes aside, I am a huge fan of Kyoji and
very grateful because without him I would not have won the UFC
belt. I will only fight him if it is for the belt, which would be
one of the greatest achievements of my career. It is truly an
honor, a pleasure and a privilege because he was the one who helped
me give my family a better life and get to where I am today.”
Regarding his return, Pantoja admitted that he was already training
for
UFC 314 in Miami when he was removed from the card.
“I was already in camp when they removed me from the card. I hope
to fight in June or July,” Pantoja said. “Now I’m waiting for the
title fights to be decided at UFC 316 and 317. Juliana [Pena] vs.
Kayla [Harrison] and Merab [Dvalishvili] vs. [Sean] O’Malley were
considered, but it’s not official yet.
Even without knowing which event and who he will fight, the
champion promises that he will start his camp in the coming
days.
“At first I thought that my next opponent would be Kai
Kara-France, but after [Brandon] Moreno and [Manel] Kape’s
victories, I don’t know who the UFC will choose. Regardless of who
it is, I’ll be in Florida on Sunday to start my camp,” concluded
Pantoja.