Alexandre
Pantoja seemingly has his eyes on Tatsuro
Taira.
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Pantoja is coming off a successful title defense against Steve Erceg
at UFC 301
in Brazil this past May. Erceg’s title shot came partly due to a
lack of worthy opponents available for the Brazilian champ.
Pantoja already owns a pair of victories over Brandon
Moreno and Brandon
Royval and with Amir Albazi
recovering from neck surgery, Pantoja admits he still doesn’t have
a clear challenger for the title. However, he is keen on defending
his strap by the end of the year, regardless of the opponent.
“I don’t have like a real opponent right now,” Pantoja recently
said on UFC Unfiltered. “I don’t know what’s happening. But I want
[to fight] by the end of the year. Doesn’t matter who, I’m gonna be
ready.”
While he might not have a clear opponent in mind, Pantoja is
seemingly keeping an eye on Tatsuro
Taira, who takes on Royval in a five-round UFC Fight Night
headliner on Oct. 12 at the Apex in Las Vegas. Along with the
undefeated contender, who Pantoja labeled a “real dude,” the
flyweight champ feels Japanese fighters are a different breed
altogether. In addition to his training partners at the gym,
Pantoja also had a special mention for undefeated 22-year-old
Japanese prospect Rei
Tsuruya, who scored a unanimous decision win over Carlos
Hernandez in his promotional debut at UFC 303
this past June.
“I really want to see Taira with Royval. The Japanese [are] tough
guys,” Pantoja said. “I have Kyoji
Horiguchi in my gym and couple of more Japanese [fighters]
coming for American Top Team training here — Motoya, Juntaro
[Ushiku]. And these guys are very good, [they] have something in
[their] body because all these guys are so strong and they keep
pushing. That’s good for me. And I know Taira that guy is a real
dude. And we have a young kid, he just make one fight in UFC, I
think UFC 303, Rei [Tsuruya] something. New Japanese grappler, this
guy is real good too. I appreciate America, we all bring new guys
to train with us, we have fresh blood all the time.”