Alexandre Pantoja has lofty goals in his career and seemingly wants his body of work to be mentioned in the same breath as names like Demetrious Johnson. During an interview with Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie, Pantoja covered several subjects ahead of his flyweight title defense against Kai Kara-France at UFC 317 on June 28th.
As far as what would be bigger for his legacy between notching double digit flyweight title defenses or perhaps moving up to become a two division UFC champion against bantamweight kingpin Merab Dvalishvili, Pantoja said,
"I don’t know what is more important. Getting a second belt or having 10 title defenses. For me, what I think right now, I think having 10 title defenses. Of course, moving up and getting the belt is great, but I have a very tough division to fight. Very good opponents, guys from all over the world. My last fight, I fought guys from four different countries. Now I have one more different guy from New Zealand. That proves the flyweight division has more different fighters from the whole world. UFC is a world organization... That’s a special thing I have in my division. I want to keep that. I want to protect the division and make it huge."
Alexandre Pantoja's resume within the lineage of the UFC flyweight belt
Alexandre Pantoja clearly has Kai Kara-France squarely in his crosshairs for month's end but some of then long terms goals he has in the promotion's 125 pound division would but him in rarefied air. If he does secure ten straight defenses of his crown, Pantoja will be but one title defense shy of hitting the mark
'Mighty Mouse' does not just have the overall flyweight title defense record with eleven victories consecutively but his streak of sequential championship defenses is the most in UFC history regardless of weight class. If he gets his ideal outcome in Las Vegas in less than two weeks' time, Pantoja will have notched his fourth flyweight title defense which currently stands as the second most championship defenses in the strap's history.
