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When opportunity presented itself, Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight
Alexandre
Pantoja ensured his greatest chance for success possible.
Brazil’s Pantoja (24-5) signed up for a match at the end of July
against former title challenger Alex Perez
(24-6) at UFC
277, fully recovered from his knee injury that forced him out
of a championship fight at the beginning of 2022. Pantoja was
slated to rematch Brandon
Moreno, a foe he has topped twice before, once in 2018 in the
UFC and earlier in 2016 on their season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Following
its announcement and confirmation by the fighters, Pantoja
spoke to Sherdog about the matchup.
“I just signed the contract, now I can talk about,” Pantoja said
coyly.
As Pantoja is a top-ranked flyweight, the UFC wanted him to step
him and replace Askar
Askarov on the July 16 event to retain a pivotal match on that
Fight Night lineup. His management team disagreed, not because of a
lack of preparation, but that a key fight would take place in his
division on July 30: Moreno vs. Kai Kara
France for the interim strap. His team negotiated for the fight
to take place on UFC 277 instead.
“It couldn’t be more fair,” Pantoja noted. “After all, I was
supposed to face Moreno for the title, when I had to withdraw due
to an injury, and Deiveson got my place and conquered the title
after beating Moreno in a trilogy.”
Having faced off Moreno on two separate occasions, and submitting
the man in Brandon
Royval that tapped out Kara France, Pantoja believes Kara
France should be favored in the interim title fight.
“The level in the flyweight division is really high,” Pantoja said
proudly. “I see Kara France with more knockout power, but on the
other hand, Moreno has an amazing chin. I would say that Kara is
slightly [the] favorite in that one.”
After two months of intense physiotherapy coming off his knee
injury and subsequent surgery, Pantoja returned to normal training
in March, and hopes to have a great return against Perez.
“Alex is such a tough kid,” the Brazilian admitted. “By the way,
there is no easy fight against any top 10 of our division, but I’m
back in my best shape to beat him and finally get the chance to
fight for the belt. In case UFC needs me against Kara [France] or
for a trilogy against Moreno, I’ll be willing to fight for the
interim belt.”
“The Cannibal” made his pro debut in 2007, and as he grew, he won
16 fights and suffered only two losses — both by decision — to
Willian
Viana and Jussier
Formiga, before joining the UFC ten years later. Pantoja is
coming into his match with Perez on a two-fight win streak, having
submitted Royval and beaten Manel Kape
on the scorecards. The 11-month layoff from his last appearance in
August 2021 to UFC 277 will be his longest since 2016, prior to
joining the TUF roster.
His opponent Perez has not competed since 2020, with his last
outing an unsuccessful one against Figueiredo for the belt. While
he fell short, he did become the first fighter to emerge from
Dana White’s Contender Series and fight for a
UFC title. A slew of injuries, weight issues and problems for his
various opponents have kept him on the shelf since UFC 255.