Based on what he saw in the UFC 301
headliner, Demetrious
Johnson believes Muhammad
Mokaev can dethrone reigning flyweight champ Alexandre
Pantoja.
Advertisement
Johnson was not impressed by Pantoja’s unanimous decision win over
Steve
Erceg in the main event at UFC 301 on Saturday in Rio de
Janeiro. Johnson saw a one-dimensional showing from “The Cannibal,”
who failed to land much damage on Erceg despite ground control time
of over eight minutes.
“When I was watching the fight, I didn’t feel like [Alexandre]
Pantoja was a better fighter…” Johnson said on his YouTube channel. “His grappling is his
strongest suit. If you can keep him away from his grappling then
you can pretty much, I feel, you can take advantage of him. He
can’t fight in the clinch, there’s no elbows, there’s no dumping
him to the side. It was basically running at you with my hands down
and punch and go for a takedown and then take you down.”
Johnson also deems Pantoja’s performances to be lackluster in
comparison to those of former
UFC flyweight champs — including himself. According to the
reigning ONE
Championship 135-pound title holder, Pantoja starts strong but
struggles to get through the fight as it progresses.
“And I feel Pantoja cuts too much weight. Even though he looks
tired, he’s not tired but that’s where he fights,” Johnson said.
“When I look at the past champions, when I look at Figgy [Deiveseon
Figueiredo], absolutely amazing champion, power, great athleticism.
When I look at Henry
Cejudo, who’d move and move so good, he’s finishing people. And
then when I look at myself, I was moving and finishing people. And
then when I look at Pantoja, it’s almost like he’s getting through
the fight, he’s not excelling through the fight. What I mean by
excelling: It’s not like he’s getting stronger as the fight goes
on. It’s almost like he starts strong and then kind of
plateaus.”
While Johnson thinks Erceg could defeat Pantoja in another year or
two, he believes Mokaev could best the Brazilian champion now.
“I think you give Steve Erceg another year, two years, I think he
beats Pantoja. That’s the problem with the flyweight division, it’s
that there’s not a lot of athletes there,” Johnson said. “Now you
do have Mokaev. I think Mokaev can beat Alex Pantoja, because one,
he’s better on the feet. Two, he has a better wrestling background.
Three, I think he’ll be better about not making a decision like,
‘Hey I can beat Pantoja on the feet, I don’t need to take him
down.’”